Halfway through "The Winner Takes it All", my resistance finally died

Rating: 6/10 (20 July 2008)

Don't get me wrong. This is a bad film. The plot is poor and badly carried out. Some of the songs are appalling. Pierce Brosnan cannot sing at all. Colin Firth struggles. Story lines pop out of nowhere. In short, it's badly written, badly directed and has some of the worst singing ever heard in a cinema.
I had spent quite a lot of the film with my head in my hands as the awfulness just flooded off the screen. And then, halfway through "The Winner Takes it All", with Meryl Streep delivering the lyrics as if it were the "To be, or not to be" of musicals, I suddenly had a realisation. "Oh dear", I thought, "it's all gone right".
That is about two-thirds of the way through the film which leaves you smiling by virtue of the fact that it's done with such a great deal of fun that some of it is bound to rub off on you. If you have no affection for Abba then you will be in trouble but if you do there is fun to be had.
And it's not all bad. The aforementioned Streep is excellent as Donna, belting the songs out with gusto and clearly having a lot of fun. Brosnan's singing has to be heard to be believed but other than that he's fine. Stellan Skarsgaard's is as good as ever, whilst Julie Walters and Christine Baranski are as entertaining as ever.
But it is a bad film, a very bad film. But, almost because of its awfulness, it's actually a good way to spend a couple of hours. This joins the very large category of films that are absolutely terrible, but wonderfully enjoyable.
N.B. In Britain, this has been given a PG rating. It is questionable as to whether many children will enjoy this anyway, but there are some jokes and lines that might be unsuitable. Check the BBFC's parents' website before taking young children to see this.