Mama Mia!: Film of the Century?

★★★★☆

Mamma Mia! follows Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) on the weekend of her wedding. She has never known who her father is, and, after reading the diary her mother Donna (Meryl Streep) kept the year she was pregnant, has narrowed it down to three men: Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Bill (Stellan Skarsgård) and Harry (Colin Firth). She invites all of them to her wedding, and they all show up. This is very much a surprise to her mother, who she did not tell, and who was not happy to see them. Sophie spends the majority of the film trying to figure out which one of the three men is her father, but isn’t able to. She thought that she would know when she saw him, but she didn’t. The events of the film come together during Sophie’s wedding, where she finds out that not even Donna is 100% sure who her father is. It is during these moments that she realises that it does not matter which one is her real dad, because all three of them care for her- and three is better than one at the end of the day.

Spliced throughout the film are musical numbers to some of ABBA’s greatest hits, such as Dancing Queen and Voulez-vous. The actors themselves provide all the vocals, which has some interesting results, particularly the three dads’ rendition of Our Last Summer. Considering Mamma Mia! is a musical, it seems that being able to sing and dance was not a requirement to make the cut. However, the fun vibes of the film more than make up for the sometimes not-so-stellar singing.

One of the best scenes in the film has to be the Voulez-vous dance sequence. The hen and stag parties mix, there is the most elaborate choreography in the whole film to accompany one of the most lively ABBA songs, and there’s some important moments threw into the mix to remind you that this film does actually have a plot. It is during this song that the three dads all realise that they are Sophie’s father (although technically it can only be one of them). The snippets of the scene showing Sophie with each of the men actually led to some of the funniest (and most meme-able) moments in the whole film; like the conversation between her and Bill (“How old are you?” “I’m twenty!” “Ugh!”), which never fails to get a laugh. There’s also the little chat with Harry, which also manages to show Colin Firth’s horrendous attempt at dancing, which is funnier than any of his other moments by a long shot.

The star of the show is so clearly Meryl Streep. Each time she is on screen, she demands your attention. On top of her wonderful acting, Streep is also a good singer and dancer- something that is not seen everywhere in the cast. I mean, come on, name me another actor who would’ve been able to belt out The Winner Takes It All like that? Amanda Seyfried was also able to execute her singing parts wonderfully- they really lucked out having the two main actors being that good at everything. However, I am very partial to Colin Firth, and have got to say it is just delightful to see him do such a lighthearted film, especially when the next year would see him star in the heartbreaking A Single Man. The cast as a whole, whilst a bit all-over-the-place on paper, works so well together that it’s hard to imagine anyone else in any of the roles. Without each one of them, the film simply wouldn’t be the same.

Mamma Mia! is available to stream on Sky Cinema, and can be rented or bought on Amazon, Youtube or through the Sky Store.