Really "Papa M.I.A." on a Greek Island.

Rating: Null/10 (27 December 2008)

M.I.A. ... missing in action, adequately describes the father(s) in this sweet story. As always, Meryl Streep gives an awe-inspiring performance, with her acting and singing, and her "Winner Takes It All" outdoors is just as good as anything that has been performed on the silver screen.
This movie is the adaptation of the stage play which simply is a tribute to the ABBA songs. To tie it all together is an improbable, but sweet, romantic story. It works!
Meryl Streep is Donna Sheridan who has been on this picturesque Greek island for 21 years, since her mother told the pregnant Donna to never come back home. So she stayed there, had her baby, and has been operating a run-down hotel for all those years.
Cute 21-year-old Amanda Seyfried is her daughter, Sophie, and the event at hand is her marriage. Sophie finds her mom's diary from all those years ago and figures out that she had been romantically involved with 3 men during the time she became pregnant, so without her mom's knowledge Sophie sends wedding invitations to all three men, on the chance that one of them is her real father, whom she has never met.
One of the "fathers" is Pierce Brosnan as Sam Carmichael. Another is Colin Firth as Harry Bright. And the third is carefree sailor Stellan Skarsgård as Bill Anderson. As good script writing would have it, all three of them appear at the same time and, in fact, all make the short trip from mainland to the island on Bill's sailboat after the other two barely miss the ferry.
The movie is a musical. Everyone sings. Most of them had never sung outside the shower before. And it works! The DVD has very interesting "extra" features that show how much musical work was done to get all the actors to the point that they could do justice to the ABBA songs.
Joining Streep were Julie Walters as Rosie and Christine Baranski as Tanya. They were old friends who returned for the wedding, and provided the harmony voices for the songs.
I like music and singing and I like this movie. It is totally funny and entertaining.
Update May 2013: Just saw it again after almost 5 years and enjoyed it as much as I did the first time.