Yeah it's silly but exhilarating!

Rating: 10/10 (27 July 2008)

Musical adaptation of the hit play with Abba songs. Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is going to marry handsome Sky (Dominic Cooper) on a Greek island. She lives there with her single mom Donna (Meryl Streep). Sophie wants to find her father to give her away at the wedding. She finds out her mom slept with three different men at the time she was conceived and any one of them can be her dad! They are Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgard). She invites them all to her wedding WITHOUT telling her mom.
The plot is, to be nice, simplistic and predictable (it's just like the play) but who cares? It's just an excuse to bring in a huge amount of Abba songs belted out full blast by the cast members. Now I LOVE Abba so this movie just had me from the beginning. It was beautifully shot in Greece--some of the scenery takes your breath away. With one exception everyone can sing and the songs are worked seamlessly into the story. All the numbers are good but three stand out for me: Streep letting lose with "The Winner Takes It All" and "Dancing Queen" (which is turned into a women empowerment song) and Christine Baranski singing "Does Your Mother Know" to a beach full of young hunky guys. The dancing is energetic and all the extras are young and attractive (especially the men) and are just great. There's young hunky guys all over the movie. There are some confusing dance numbers (I'm STILL trying to figure out what all those guys are doing during "Lay All Your Love On Me") but the energy they have pulls them through. The acting is as good as it can be. Really--this is no great acting challenge but everybody seems to realize this is a slight story and play along with it. A few minor quibbles--the dancing is cut into quick shots here and there. I call it MTV style editing. It's TOO quick! I wanted it to stay put so we can see the dancing. Cooper is handsome and engaging but the character of Sky is supposed to be tall and muscular. Cooper is neither--but he CAN sing. On the other hand Pierce Brosnan can't. Hs singing is terrible! When he started singing "S.O.S." my audience broke out laughing! It doesn't ruin the movie but it brings a lot of unintentional laughter.
The stage show ends with the cast members coming out and doing two more songs for the audience. The movie ends with Streep, Christine Baranski and Julie Walters singing full blast. At my theatre TONS of paper came out flying from two large "cannons" hidden on each side of the screen! The paper went swirling around all through the theatre and REALLY set the audience off! Then Streep asks the audience "Do you want another one?" My audience roared "Yes!" and "Waterloo" came barreling out. I walked out of the theatre laughing and exhausted but full of energy! Even without all the confetti flying around it would have worked.
Beautiful fun musical full of energy and color. If you hate Abba don't see it but Abba fans (like me) will LOVE it! A 10 all the way! ADDENDUM: I saw this THREE times at a theatre! I paid FULL PRICE each time!! That must tell you how much I love this.