Entertaining enough and fun, but ultimately forgettable.

Rating: 8/10 (4 January 2009)

Meryl Streep has actually sung in several films. She sang a great spoof of opening musical numbers in DEATH BECOMES HER, and also sang a country western tune in POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE at the end of that film. She has a good voice and can carry a tune. But this film is the first one where she is center stage in a musical, and carrying several show tunes. Again she does well enough singing them.
MAMMA MIA has been on Broadway for several years, and it is an infectious musical, even if only the tune "Dancing Queen" has managed to get any permanent notice. The story line is slightly like that of the film BUONO SERA MRS. CAMPBELL. Donna Sheridan (Streep) runs a hotel on a small Greek island. Her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is about to marry Sky (Domenick Cooper), and there is a large scale wedding being planned (although Sophie and Sky wanted to elope). Sophie has discovered her mother's diary and finds that in the year that she was born her mother had very close affairs with three men: Sam Carmichael (Pierce Brosnan), Harry Bright (Colin Firth), and Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgard), one of whom was her biological father. Confiding in her two closest friends Sophie has secretly contacted all three men and invited them back to the hotel. At the same time Donna has invited her two oldest friends the much married Tanya (Christine Baransky) and the well known cooking expert Rosie (Julie Walters) to help her get through the wedding weekend.
The story follows how Donna discovers the three loves of her past (especially Sam) are back, and she is upset that Sophie will want to know which one is her father (a question that Donna is unable to answer). The three men are interested in why they were called back, Sam being a divorced man with children, Harry a successful businessman in London, and Bill an independent type who lives most of his life on board a ship. Each slowly realizes what Sopnie is doing, but each concludes that he must be the father - something Sophie (for some reason, presumably over-enthusiasm) never carefully thought out. Donna enlists her two friends to assist her in keeping the three ex-boyfriends away from her, which they try to do. As it turns out she is most glad to see Sam again, but is uncertain that the relationship is still revive-able.
The film is one that keeps the viewers involved, and is fun. It's unusual to see an actor like Brosnan singing and dancing (passably), and apparently enjoying the experience. Baransky has a nice number thrown in when she reveals her sexual control over a bartender and would-be lover (a number her alter-ego, "Mary Ann" would have enjoyed on "Cybel"). And it does end with a satisfactory conclusion. But it's pleasant but not a great film. It is worthwhile for entertainment value only - not thought provoking. But then, it was meant for entertainment value when it was put on Broadway, and when it was produced as a film.