Great Songs, Atrocious Direction and Cinematography

Rating: 3/10 (6 October 2009)

While the premise and the Abba songs make for a great stage musical (the rest of the songs are like listening to chalk squeaking on a blackboard and the words about as memorable), and while Phillida Lloyd may be a great stage director, film is definitely not her forte. The camera angles and movements are amateurish, not helped by her often out of focus cinematographer, Haris Zambarloukos. Oh, it's a great chick flick cum Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or Little Miss Sunshine with music, but West Side Story it ain't. It lacks the polish of Hairspray, Chicago or Little Shop of Horrors. I do not know who armed these people with $100 million and cameras, but I saw musical episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena, Warrior Princess that were 100 times more professionally done.