A three-minute alternative to "Mamma Mia!"

4 comments

July 20, 12:28 AM

by Chris Jensen, S.F. Gay Examiner

 

Unfortunately, it would've taken a lot more shirtless Mediterraneans to save this inept and embarrassing spectacle. Sure, Meryl Streep acquits herself just fine, but this is a woman who practically acquitted herself in "She-Devil." Nothing else works: not the choreography (some of which is so literal that it doesn't resemble dancing so much as charades), not the storyline (you'd produce a more compelling narrative by putting "ABBA Gold" on shuffle), and definitely not Pierce Brosnan (boy howdy, is he a wretched singer).

If you haven't seen it yet, please don't be tempted by the sunny ad campaign or the lure of warbling Oscar winners or the bespangled evergreen charms of Swedish pop stars. Please, please just avoid it. ("The Dark Knight," on the other hand, is just as good as the critics claim; it's probably the best comic-book adaptation I've ever seen, and the praise for Heath Ledger isn't merely respect for the dead. From here on, whenever people talk about the great movie villains, they will always mention his performance.)

But back to "Mamma Mia!": as a public service, I thought I'd direct your attention to a far more satisfying dose of ABBA from one of my all-time favorite movies. Here's Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths singing "Waterloo" in "Muriel's Wedding"—a sequence that imparts more joy in three minutes than "Mamma Mia!" manages in nearly two hours. Behold:

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