My My, how can you resist it?

Rating: 8/10 (27 July 2008)

Amanda Seyfried stars as Sophie, a young woman on the brink of getting married who sends out 3 invitations to Bill, Sam and Harry, 3 men who could possibly be her father.
Using the songs of one of the most popular famous bands of the 70's, Mamma Mia delivers wave after wave of feel good moments in an entertaining romantic musical which was a delightful surprise.
Meryl Streep (Devil wears Prada) gives a great performance as the mother to Sophie and she steals the show with her singing, timing and utter perfection throughout and with the help of an excellent support cast.
I think it may be fair to say that Pierce Brosnan, as likable person and actor as he is, should stay away from the singing stage, but to give him credit at least there was no other artist doing it for him like in so many other films. Colin Firth (Love actually) and Stellen Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting) to are good in their respective roles and try at the singing parts.
Julie Walters (Educating Rita) is hilarious in her role as Rosie and juxtaposed with Christine Baranski (Cybill) as Tanya the two make a great pairing and make the film even more relaxing and humorous with plenty of physical humour, especially towards the end.
Though the plot is fairly cheesy and I was one of 10 guys in a fully packed screen, it really is a chick flick with stories about love, flings, dresses, weddings etc all encoded. And though not usually the top of my list, were covered well through the use of some of the classic Abba songs, and by using songs, it prevented the plot from being dull and made it an extremely vibrant feel good film.
The direction is exceptionally poor and totally predictable and dull, though there are a few excellent shots towards the end, especially with Sophie on the boat, a shadow with the dark blue sea around her.
The ending was really rushed and there are plenty of unanswered questions which left me feeling slightly disappointed but nevertheless with great songs, performances and feel good ideologies, it is a wonderful sing-along enjoyable musical.