Entertaining but not perfect

Rating: 7/10 (29 July 2008)

I liked this movie - there were some great moments. But there were also some excruciating ones. Watching Meryl Streep as Donna writhe around in cutoff overalls during the title number just didn't work for me, though when she sang "The Winner Takes It All," I had chills. It's a trade-off, I suppose.
The biggest problem I had was that the lead actors are all WAY too old - the daughter is 20 years old, so the mom, Donna, and her three suitors (super sexy at any age Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, and the always watchable Colin Firth) should be what, 40 or 45 at the oldest? Meryl looks fabulous, but she's closer to 60, and the men are all in their 50s - that means their characters went through these youthful indiscretions and rebellions in their late 30s! I have to admit, I found that totally distracting. And why is Pierce Brosnan, who is as Irish as they come, cast as the American? Is there a complete dearth of sexy American men who could play this part? As for the singing, the actress playing the daughter, Amanda Seyfried (probably best known for Mean Girls), has a lovely strong voice, and Meryl is also quite good, but none of the men sing all that well, and they really shouldn't have carried whole musical numbers alone.
On the positive side, Christine Baranski is riveting - her version of "Does Your Mamma Know" was one of the high points of the movie. And it was fun seeing Dominic Cooper, who played Willoughby in the latest version of Sense and Sensibility, in a very different (though still adorable) role. And the biggest bonus (SPOILER ALERT) - the truly passionate kiss between Donna (Meryl Streep) and Sam (Pierce Bronson) at the end, instead of some bullshit peck. You so rarely see passion between older characters, so that was refreshing to say the least.
I never saw the stage show, and while musicals are not generally my cup of tea, I was surprised at how well the ABBA songs were fit into the story (some better than others, of course). I mostly remember their dance hits, but several of their lesser known ballads are truly beautiful. The movie gives these all-too-familiar songs a new depth and character, so that listening to them now, they have all new meaning.
I'm glad I saw the movie and I've been humming the songs ever since, but it probably could have been better.