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- First reviewJuly 19, 2008
- Last reviewJuly 19, 2008
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bigbowood's Reviews
Overall rating
3
/
5
it's flawed, but still a lot of fun
PostedJuly 19, 2008
bigbowood
from Los Angeles
Having never seen the stage show, I had no pre-conceived ideas about what to expect. I just knew that I liked ABBA music and movies that look like a lot of fun, and this seemed to offer both.
First the good:
Meryl Streep (Donna) was absolutely fantastic, as were Amanda Seyfried (Sophie), Christine Baranski (Tanya), and Julie Walters (Rosie). I knew Meryl could sing after seeing her in "Postcards from the Edge" so it was nice to see her dive into a full-blown musical. She seemed to be having the time of her life in this role.
The cinematography was superb. I don't remember ever seeing a movie so lush and beautiful, it really set the mood for all of the romantic moments in the movie.
The use of the music was quite wonderful (as it should be in a musical). There's a scene where Donna is singing as she helps Sophie get ready for her wedding and it's heartbreaking to watch her realize that her daughter is grown up and that she'll have to let her go.
The choreography is great, and really took advantage of the larger canvas a motion picture offers vs. doing a stage show.
The tone of the movie felt very "European comedy" to me. It's hard to explain, but a lot of the visual gags reminded me of Benny Hill (and I actually mean that as a compliment).
Now for the bad:
The script is clunky (and I'm being kind). There's a really great story here, but the moments used to connect them are all over the map that at times you felt like plot points were falling from the sky with no explanation or consequences. The most glaring example is that a character in the film turns out to be gay (I won't say who here so as to not spoil it for you)... this was SORT of set up earlier in the film, but that earlier moment seems like the "outing" was actually a misunderstanding straight out of Three's Company, so when the real outing is mentioned again it seems like a callback joke rather than a real moment.
Good musicals use music to move the story along. Bad musicals use dialogue to set up an excuse to sing. While mostly good, this movie did have some moments of bursting into song just for the sake of it. A few songs being cut from the stage version to the screen version would not have hurt this production (it certainly didn't hurt "Hairspray")
Pierce Brosnan's singing is god-awful. He wasn't off-key, he was just horribly Neil Diamond meets Michael Boltonesque. I actually would have rather seen Pierce and Colin Firth switch roles.
Overall... it's good mindless fun, but don't buy into the Hollywood Reporter's review that this is Oscar worthy (except for cinematography and a few behind-the-scenes categories). It's deliciously campy.
First the good:
Meryl Streep (Donna) was absolutely fantastic, as were Amanda Seyfried (Sophie), Christine Baranski (Tanya), and Julie Walters (Rosie). I knew Meryl could sing after seeing her in "Postcards from the Edge" so it was nice to see her dive into a full-blown musical. She seemed to be having the time of her life in this role.
The cinematography was superb. I don't remember ever seeing a movie so lush and beautiful, it really set the mood for all of the romantic moments in the movie.
The use of the music was quite wonderful (as it should be in a musical). There's a scene where Donna is singing as she helps Sophie get ready for her wedding and it's heartbreaking to watch her realize that her daughter is grown up and that she'll have to let her go.
The choreography is great, and really took advantage of the larger canvas a motion picture offers vs. doing a stage show.
The tone of the movie felt very "European comedy" to me. It's hard to explain, but a lot of the visual gags reminded me of Benny Hill (and I actually mean that as a compliment).
Now for the bad:
The script is clunky (and I'm being kind). There's a really great story here, but the moments used to connect them are all over the map that at times you felt like plot points were falling from the sky with no explanation or consequences. The most glaring example is that a character in the film turns out to be gay (I won't say who here so as to not spoil it for you)... this was SORT of set up earlier in the film, but that earlier moment seems like the "outing" was actually a misunderstanding straight out of Three's Company, so when the real outing is mentioned again it seems like a callback joke rather than a real moment.
Good musicals use music to move the story along. Bad musicals use dialogue to set up an excuse to sing. While mostly good, this movie did have some moments of bursting into song just for the sake of it. A few songs being cut from the stage version to the screen version would not have hurt this production (it certainly didn't hurt "Hairspray")
Pierce Brosnan's singing is god-awful. He wasn't off-key, he was just horribly Neil Diamond meets Michael Boltonesque. I actually would have rather seen Pierce and Colin Firth switch roles.
Overall... it's good mindless fun, but don't buy into the Hollywood Reporter's review that this is Oscar worthy (except for cinematography and a few behind-the-scenes categories). It's deliciously campy.
Yes, I recommend this movie.
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