Mamma Mia! Reviews

[Highly rated reviewer]

Super Pooper

I'm sorry but a musical cast with people who cannot sing and cannot dance says 'disaster' to me.

Some say that this film is so cheesy bad it is brilliant. No! It is so bad it is BAD!

Even when Meryl Streep shows that she can sing a bit, she does it like a pub karoake singer, seeking to put too much emotion and meaning in to every single word.

The choreograhpy is appalling.

Yes, Abba music is wonderfully catchy. Yes, the music may bring back great memories for many watching. However, the film itself is just rubbish and I defy anyone to honestly say otherwise.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Absolutely Brilliant !!!

This got a standing ovation in a packed cinama, so forget the cheese sleeaze press critics because this is a peach of a movie, absolutely superbly cast and brilliantly filmed, this is the ULTIMATE feel good movie to put you on a real high. I would definately recommend seeing this in the cinema, say in the evening when the place is nearly full so you get the full benefit of audience reaction. We managed to squeeze in the last 3 seats and had a whale of a time it took off at a pace and never let up, I was in tears, then laughing, then singing then clapping - as was the whole place. And then a standing ovation from a packed house... but dont leave, wait for the credits as you get a second blast of fun and song. One of the films of the year and feel good films of all time, superb can't recommend it highly enough It's the best fun I have ever had in a cinema with or without my clothes on....

[Highly rated reviewer]

Promising!!

If this film is anything like the musical then it'll be great fun!

[Highly rated reviewer]

to good to be true.???

mmmmmm......mamma mia !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Highly rated reviewer]

S.O.S !!!

I saw this at the cinema last night after hearing rave reviews from everyone (from a 14 year old boy to professional reviewers on the tv) and I feel I have wasted 2 hours of my life. It is so cheesy and twee and unrealistic. Streep and Brosnan must have been paid a fortune to appear (or given huge brandys before signing their contracts). Their singing is actually okay, though probably heavily 'fiddled' with post production. I had not seen or heard about the stage version so went into this film not having a clue what it was about, though I do love the songs of ABBA. I did not like how they made/forced a particular song fit in the storyline and towards the end of the film was dreading yet another ABBA song (The Winner Takes It All took the bloody biscuit, I was ready to walk). Lesson: Don't believe the hype. If you want a musical get a classic, give this a modern day horror a miss.

Mama Mia

I had high hopes of a feel good, coming out on a high tapping my toes evening.

What a let down. I cringed about three minutes in and didn't stop cringing all the way through. When I left the cinema I screamed in frustration...two hours of my life I'll never get back again.

This was High School Musical for Middle-Aged Women.

Had they spent so much on the actors that they couldn;t afford a plot?

Meryl Streep sang brillliantly...but why?

What was the point of this.

Mamma Mia

Just seen this at the local cinema and it is wonderful. Came out smiling – such a feel good movie. Brosnan is a hunk and made the cinema all laugh when he sang…did not detract though! Colin Firth has a different love interest for a change, and is still a hunk, and Meryl Streep is fantastically believable as the lady with a past. The only one I did not like on screen was the groom to be. His acting grated. But my teens liked him so that’s alright then. The flipper dance scene was especially funny; all of it was funny except for the mother and bride scene which made a tear. The way the words fitted the plot was just so right. It’s a great film. I’d say more but don’t want to spoil the plot just encourage people to see it.

[Highly rated reviewer]

I HAD A DREAM....

... in which a number of seriously brilliant actors and actresses come together, fail to evoke any kind of chemistry between them, badly sing Abba songs, call it a musical movie, and the film goes to become the box office smash of 2008.

Only I found I was not dreaming when I pinched myself and screamed a little. How did this happen? On paper it should be absolutely brilliant and according to looooots of people who all piled into the cinema to see it, it is.

Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan up to all sorts of Shennanigans and singing Abba songs, with (yes I know it's meant to be a big joke) their tongues firmly in their cheeks? Sounds like fun! Can't be that bad surely...

That is exactly what I thought, after all I like to ever so often watch a film that I expect nothing of, or even did not really fancy. But it really is that bad. It is not the cheesiness of the movie, for that you prepare yourself naturally. What ruined it for me was the wooden, soulless acting, the missing chemistry (and we are talking big actors here, come on) and the overall rather forced feel of Mamma Mia.

I do not mean to be mean spirited, so to those who enjoyed it, good on you. It is definitely not for me, in fact I turned it off after 35 minutes when I realised I would need a lot more than a strong cup of tea to get me to anywhere near enjoy this movie.

Is that the secret of its success? Were miniature schnapps bottles being given away with your admission ticket? Or mini lambrinis?

Surely there must be a reasonable explanation for its success, Mulder. No, Scully, from where I sit this must be a strange phenomenon of epidemic proportions, because all I see before me here is just a big pile of rubbish when it appears people perceive it to be entertaining.

A mystery.....

It's got Abba songs in it

Unfortunately this reminded me of an 80s music video - catchy song and gorgeous locations and err...well, that's it really. The cast are all fairly game but they don't have much to work with as the script is about on par with any average TV sitcom and frequently resorts to cliché for its (very few) laughs . The direction is pedestrian at best but really shows the director's limitations during the dance scenes which are lumpen and poorly filmed. The choreography itself appears to have been lifted directly from the stage production with no attempt to open it out for the screen. What may have worked on stage just doesn't work on screen and the dance routines lack style and panache. The camera frequently zooms in for medium shots during the dances; either to spare us from dancing that looks like a hoe down most of the time or because the director didn't realise that during dances you should be looking at the dancers bodies. Either way the dances all look messy and dull and add nothing to a film already lacking in interest

Mamma Mia is a tissue thin confection; thrown together as a way of showcasing Abba's enduring pop classics.

Dreadful

This is the worst film I have seen in a very long time.. so cheesey it is unbelievable I don't mind a bit of Abba and I love musicals but this combination on screen its terrible. some parts are funny but only because it it so bad you have to laugh. Don't bother!!