Posted on July 25th, 2008 by Colin
Last night I had the total and complete pleasure of seeing Mamma Mia! the movie. I really don’t even know where to begin with this movie. WARNING SPOILER ALERTS ABOUND IN THE ENTRY (but like, really, who the fuck cares about a spoiler alert for Mamma Mia!) My friend Pete most likely summarized the moments that make this movie incredible the best via one of his Twitters:
FabergeLeggs Mamma mia: shouldnt every film have a pulsating mosaic dolphin? Barring that, a cougar christine baranski on a jetski.
Even though something deep inside me was moved to see it on the big screen, I really wasn’t sure what to expect out of this movie. That was until Meryl Streep starts singing “Money Money Money” and the entire thing fades into a fantasy montage that involves on the bow of a ship, draped in yards of flowing, silken fabrics blowing in the wind, while Christine Baranski and Julie Walters sit atop Jet skis locked on the deck of the boat on either side of her. That shot fades away to a shot of Meryl Streep’s face superimposed into the center of a roulette wheel while she holds five poker cards in her hand. At that point I realized exactly what sort of movie this would be and couldn’t be happier. The rest of the audience seemed to agree, as no one ever objected to my incessant giggling and outbursts of “wait… what the fuck is actually going on?”
But really, guys, while the movie is fun, it makes exactly zero sense. Was Meryl Streep drunk the whole time?
But in her defense, if a movie company wanted to pay me a ton of money to go to Greece and sing Abba songs and drink all day while wearing ridiculous outfits I would totally jump on the opportunity. It’s really a dream job. Meryl Streep seems to agree, according to this interview with Chuck the Movie Guy:
In this interview they touch on the second best scene in the movie, where Meryl (we’re on a first name basis now) sings “The Winner Takes It All” to Pierce Brosnan, who stands there awkwardly, while she belts out the song like the power ballad it is on the edge of a cliff wrapping a red scarf around herself and letting it fly in the wind. Really, it’s spectacular, and also really mind blowing to see Meryl Streep re-inventing herself as the new queen of camp. Charles Busch better watch out.
The whole thing ends with a gay gay dance scene, where Aphrodite’s fountain, hidden beneath a dolphin mosaic in the Greek villa, where the action takes place, explodes and gets everyone wet. Colin Firth, who is the sole gay character in the plot, gets to have a very Queer as Folk moment with his new boyfriend and everyone falls in love. Awww…? But really none of it made sense. Ever.
The real reason to see this movie is to watch people run around and sing ABBA songs. If you were an adolescent who did community or regional theater, like me, the whole movie will just bring back memories of running around the green room with your friends dancing to ABBA Gold and acting totally obnoxious and faggy, back at a time when you didn’t even know what “acting faggy” really meant. Don’t go to see great film, but do go to see one of the most ridiculous, fun loving projects I may have ever seen on the big screen.
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July 25th, 2008 at 11:07 am
There’s a huge box (or two) full of those cardboard fans on wooden sticks that say “DANCING QUEEN”. They were supposed to be given out for Pride to promote “Mamma Mia!”, but they were shipped to the wrong office.
Now they are just sitting here.
I’ve considered stealing them and turning them into some conceptual ABBA themed sculpture, but if you have any good ideas of how to put these into use…
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