Upbeat, enjoyable, and fun

Rating: 7/10 (12 February 2009)

With just a bare bones plot, 2008's Mamma Mia manages to light up the screen, thanks to a great cast, great energy, great music, and great scenery. The Abba musical has been running on Broadway and touring for years.
Meryl Streep plays Donna Sheridan, the owner of a hotel on a Greek Island. She's preparing for her 20-year-old daughter Sophie's (Amanda Seyfried) wedding. Unbeknownst to her, her daughter has invited the three men (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgård), one of whom could be her father, to her wedding, hoping to figure out which one it is and have him walk her down the aisle. When Donna sees them, it rocks her world.
The stellar cast also includes Christine Baranski and Julie Walters as Donna's best friends, who sang with her back in the day.
My only problems with this film were - first, it's been a hit show for so long that the ages of the women no longer work unless you state upfront that it takes place in 1998 or thereabouts, as the women are supposed to be 50 year-old ex-hippies, placing them and their bell-bottoms in the '60s and early '70s, not the late '70s and '80s.
My second problem, which I'm sure many people have commented on, is the godawful singing of Pierce Brosnan. Surely they could have done some mixing in the sound studio instead of inflicting that on a paying audience.
Other than that, wonderful entertainment.