Mama Mia
I went to see Mama Mia last night, well to tell the truth I was dragged along to see it.
And the first ten minutes were so toe-curling awful that had I not been in an end seat beside a wall, in a packed theatre, I would have just got up and left.
But then they sang Dancing Queen and to this middle aged woman there is something rather moving about watching a bunch of other middle aged women singing about being seventeen when they should all know better.
However, the whole experience was it was a bit like being sea sick, I had moments of feeling heady and high and then another trough of pure pap would hit and I'd feel the burning need to throw up.
It's as though the cast are all on speed or something. You want to take them aside one by one and tell them to just calm down.
As the reviews say this is a stage show taken straight to the big screen, where unfortunately less is always, always more.
And the casting is really odd. Pierce Brosan for one can't sing for taramasala - indeed "pierce" is the operative word. And if I were a Greek I'd be really pissed off at my country being treated as little more than cheap and cheerful backdrop.
The best thing about it for me was the blue sky, sea and walls and the sharp fantastic sunlight - particularly on a day when the cloud base here was at pavement level!
And OK the sight of all those platform boots did bring a lump to my throat, as I remembered the lumps mine own ones used to leave on my fledgling size four "plates of meat".
But for me Muriel's Wedding is a much better film, with a much better use of the Abba songbook.
And the first ten minutes were so toe-curling awful that had I not been in an end seat beside a wall, in a packed theatre, I would have just got up and left.
But then they sang Dancing Queen and to this middle aged woman there is something rather moving about watching a bunch of other middle aged women singing about being seventeen when they should all know better.
However, the whole experience was it was a bit like being sea sick, I had moments of feeling heady and high and then another trough of pure pap would hit and I'd feel the burning need to throw up.
It's as though the cast are all on speed or something. You want to take them aside one by one and tell them to just calm down.
As the reviews say this is a stage show taken straight to the big screen, where unfortunately less is always, always more.
And the casting is really odd. Pierce Brosan for one can't sing for taramasala - indeed "pierce" is the operative word. And if I were a Greek I'd be really pissed off at my country being treated as little more than cheap and cheerful backdrop.
The best thing about it for me was the blue sky, sea and walls and the sharp fantastic sunlight - particularly on a day when the cloud base here was at pavement level!
And OK the sight of all those platform boots did bring a lump to my throat, as I remembered the lumps mine own ones used to leave on my fledgling size four "plates of meat".
But for me Muriel's Wedding is a much better film, with a much better use of the Abba songbook.
posted by apprentice at
11:21 am
6 Comments:
somehow I thought the film wouldn't work too well... I'll just put Abba Gold on and dance around the flat....
first, i'm sorry that you had to sit through such a thing. second, your review had me cracking up! i'm not really one for musicals, so Mama Mia wasn't on my must (or ever) see list, anyway.
I already decided to give it a miss. It's not really my period so having read your less than enthusiastic review I'll stick to that.
I still sort of think if someone dragged me along to it, or more likely, lent me the DVD, I might just have to watch... rather like you do a car crash.
Sometimes post-modern irony just isn't quite enough, is it?
DunbarJane went to see it yesterday and enjoyed it - she said she was singing some of the songs (to herself of course) on the bus coming home. I don't know what the substitutes were like, but I used to enjoy the original Abba in their heyday.
My SIL has been twice! It's just not my thing I suppose. IMHO there's not been a good film musical since West Side Story.
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