Mamma Mia

Mamma Mia – Sophie is about to get married and, after finding her mother’s diary, discovers that the father she has never met could have been one of three men – so she decides to invite all of them to her wedding. When Sophie’s mother, Donna, realises her former lovers are on the Greek island of Kalokairi she calls home, her life is turned upside down. Will Sophie discover who her father is and will the love Donna experienced with any of them be rekindled?

Mamma Mia (2008) – Phyllida Lloyd

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14929939

Rating: PG

Running Length: 108 mins

Starring: Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan

Genre: Musical

REVIEW: ‘MAMMA MIA’

When a movie grosses $615 million on a $52 million budget, it becomes somewhat critic proof (otherwise known as coming down with a case of the Fast & Furious). Based on a hit 1999 musical, ‘Mamma Mia’ is a thinly strung together plot framing device to allow for the cramming in of as many songs as possible. And when these songs are by super-pop phenomenon ABBA and already deeply engrained in the public consciousness, the result is a glorified jukebox of a movie which will appeal or not based on, well, how much you like glorified jukeboxes.

Mamma Mia’s musical roots as clear to see with everyone overacting each line as if they had been injected with glitter and liquid harmonies. Laden with thigh-slapping innuendo, Mamma Mia goes for the ‘raucous night out’ angle, aiming to elicit hoots and cackles from a ready and willing audience. If it isn’t Donna (Streep) glugging drinks as her promiscuous past comes to haunt her, then it’s Julie Walters mugging the camera for gags at anything remotely phallic. The movie knows that it’s a party movie for gathering around and having a larger than life time. So out goes anything other than the surface shimmer and, to be perfectly frank, the movie wouldn’t have worked any other way.

Despite Sophie’s mission to find her father supposedly being the emotional core of the movie, Seyfried can’t act around that the script treats her as unbelievably naïve. It’s really Streep who makes this movie selling yet another engaging performance. Plus she is one of the few members of the cast who can actually sing! Much has been made of the varying vocal talents of the cast, ranging from decent to amusingly awful (we are looking at you, Brosnan), but again part of the movie’s success is that it elicits that feeling of fun time karaoke when a bunch of friends gather together and belt out the joyfully sing-along ABBA back catalogue.

With any other artist’s songs to work with, Mamma Mia might not have worked. But with the glorious hook-laden bliss of ABBA music behind it, who can resist such aural charms? Try to resist if you like but we think you know that you wont be away for long: we know that you’re not that strong….

CONTENT: IS ‘MAMMA MIA’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Sophie is reading extracts of her mother’s diary. There is innuendo of intimate relations used such as ‘we sang, we danced, we… dot dot dot’. And also ‘one thing led to another and – dot dot dot’.

A character opens a beer bottle with their teeth.

Dialogue suggests that one middle-aged female character has had cosmetic surgery. Donna yells, ‘where did you get these?!’ whilst going to grab her friend’s breasts.

When reminiscing about the past, Donna and her friends say that they used to sleep all day, and then end the sentence by bumping their bums to together and saying ‘all night’.

One of Donna’s friends holds up lace female underwear, a G-string, and wonders aloud if the owner wears it or flosses with it. Another yells out, “are they edible?!”

When talking about lotions it is suggested that it contains ‘extract of donkey testicle’.

There is constant drinking of alcohol with someone pointing out that it has been a long time since they were drunk before 11 in the morning.

One of Donna’s friends asks if she is ‘getting any’ and revs up a drill suggestively at the same time.

When explaining to her friends how she had slept with three men in a short time frame, Donna says that she was a “stupid, reckless little slut”.

During the singing of ‘Dancing Queen’ during the lyric ‘anyone could be that guy’ one of Donna’s friends holds up a rose between their legs to mime a penis. And for the next line which ends in ‘and the music is high’ she mimes smoking a rolled up a piece of paper.

When complaining about the presence of her past lovers on the island, Donna states that she, “won’t be muzzled out by an ejaculation”.

When seeking advice on what to do with three men one of Donna’s friends says wistfully, “Well that takes me back”.

Two male characters are talking on a boat. One has an apron on and when they turn around it is clear they are naked and their bare bottom is shown.

During the song ‘Does Your Mother Know’ the young man and a middle-aged woman sing against each other. She sinks to her knees out of shot in front of him and he makes faces like he is enjoying himself in what is a clear oral sex suggestion. However, when the shot pans out is clear that she was doing something else to humiliate him.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘MAMMA MIA’ FOR KIDS?

‘Mamma Mia’ is a huge colourful two-dimensional kind of movie where everything is exaggerated 200%. This makes the fun and joyous musicality an engaging point for children although there is no getting away from the large amount of (mostly mild) innuendo. So really the movie is suitable or not depending on how ok you are with that. But in relation to actual content we would suggest that Mamma Mia is suitable for children aged 7 and above.

• Violence: 0/5
• Emotional Distress: 2/5 (Sophie is upset at not knowing who her father is. Donna is very stressed about the three men she slept with years ago suddenly turning up)
• Fear Factor: 0/5
• Sexual Content: 3/5 (nothing explicit but lots of mild innuendo)
• Bad Language: 1/5 (some infrequent mild cursing like ‘crap’ and “back up girls, my arse”)
• Dialogue: 0/5 (there are constant references to one character’s multiple marriages
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of single parenting, wanting to discover your roots, sexual liberation, marriage for the right or wrong reasons, being self-reliant, and dealing with past regret.

Words by Michael Record

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