Mamma Mia - or Chickenlady the Cynic.
Last night Chickenlady and Jo the Best Friend went to the cinema because Jo has recently split up with the Cheap and Nasty Boyfriend (he shoplifted a mat for her and told us about how he took a shit in a shower, but that's another story entirely) so Operation Cheer Up was underway.

We went to see the ultimate in Chick Flicks.

Mamma Mia

I agreed to this because

a)I'm a sucker for Abba songs - it comes of growing up listening to foreign students playing them - my parents used to regularly have students to stay to help make the housekeeping money go a little further.

b)It has Colin Firth in it and I used to have the biggest crush on him years ago when he was in Another Country with Rupert Everett and they had bumsex while in possession of upper class accents and floppy hairdos - ah…public schoolboys, always a weakness of mine…married one…and bumsex….married another one who rather liked that…but that, again, is another story. (Oh, and he didn't like it with me but rather with other likeminded chaps. )

c)It has Julie Walters in it - MRS OVERALL!!! No film can possibly go wrong with the divine Julie in it. She also looks rather like one of my Dad's sisters. And she's supremely funny.


So off I go last night to the local multiplex.

Jo meets me in the foyer. The foyer which is packed to capacity with Women Of A Certain Age and a sprinkling of gay men. Signs are up saying that Mamma Mia is fully booked for the night. Really?

We kiss (on the cheek!) and we go in early - Jo looking suitably sad and wan and me looking slightly precarious on my six inch stiletto heels - yes, I don't know either why I wore them, but they look great with skinny leg jeans and …erm…. They look great.

The auditorium is at bursting point and the air is full of oestrogen, perfume, chocolate, Haagen dazs and giggles. We have the best seats in the house - Jo booked a week ago so extreme was her need to see this.

The lights go down and in between Jo telling me about Cheap and Nasty Boyfriend coming over to return her stuff earlier in the week the ads go on. Then finally the reason we are here….

Opening scene - A young girl singing An Abba Song (sorry, I've forgotten already which one - it could have been 'I have a dream') on a beach.
Jo: Sigh
Chickenlady: Oh shit. It's a full on gay-fest musical. Smile weakly

The story is basically that the fatherless young girl is getting married tomorrow on a Greek Island where she lives with her mother (Meryl Streep) who runs a b&b. The young girl invites three men whom she thinks could be her father – her mother was a bit of a minx as a young woman. The mother’s two best friends also arrive for the wedding.

Every single turn of events was met with an Abba song.

Jo: singing [insert generic Abba song here]
Chickenlady:thinksHmm..Strong female characters. Nice.

A hen night and stag night take place.

Jo: singing [insert generic Abba song here]

Chickenlady: thinksOh, Classical Greek references – Maenads, Aristophanes! Oh, very clever.

The bearded one from Abba appears as a fisherman.

Jo: Oh look! It’s the bearded one from Abba!

Chickenlady:Oh yes, how postmodern.

More singing.

Jo: singing [insert generic Abba song here]

Entire audience: singing [insert generic Abba song here]

Chickenlady: Eeek!

The end of the film – everything is sorted out at the big church scene – everyone is happy and a lovely wedding feast ensues.

More singing.

Jo: singing [insert generic Abba song here]

Entire audience: singing [insert generic Abba song here]


Chickenlady:thinksHow Shakespearean.


The final result on leaving the cinema –

Jo: I feel so much better now. I’m over Cheap and Nasty Boyfriend and I’m off to a ball next weekend, a singles ball.

Chickenlady:That’s great news. thinksDid I miss something?


This has left me thinking that I’m far too cynical. The ladies watching the film sang along and got exactly what theatre was designed for – entertainment and catharsis.

I got a slightly uncomfortable feeling that I’m just not camp enough and clearly I’m far, far too uptight.
All that said….

When it comes out on DVD there will be a Girls’ Night where we’ll all dress up, get royally drunk and sing along….all in the privacy of our own homes.

How English.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Sat 19 Jul 2008, 19:22, 5 replies)

I like camp films and Abba and gay men etc
But I was initially wary about this film

But hell if Meryl Streep agreed to do it then it can't be all bad.

I shall however wait for the DVD.
( girlinthehole, Sat 19 Jul 2008, 20:05, closed)

Do that.
Meryl Streep is awesome in it - quite an amazing actress and she can sing too! It's brilliant for Female Empowerment and all that. It's also a huge laugh - Julie Walters is brilliant as are the rest of the cast - it's quite clear that they had a ball making this.

However...it is best seen in the privacy of your own house with a large bottle of wine and fluffy slippers where you can sing along and dance too.
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Sat 19 Jul 2008, 20:09, closed)

I saw Mamma Mia last night,
and it was fucking awesome.
But there again, the first time I saw the stage show was 4 years ago with mum, saw it 3 times in one week last year and have 4th row tickets for Mandalay Bay in Vegas on October 4th.

/Abba whore
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Sat 19 Jul 2008, 21:04, closed)

meh
Meryl Streep has no sense of rhythm and can't dance.
It was no Grease or Evita.
I was sandwiched between four post-menopausal women, including my mother, who insisted on passing their sweets across me all through the film.
There was bugger all plot and the music was fairly woecious.

On the plus side, Pierce Brosnan is very hot.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Sat 19 Jul 2008, 21:27, closed)

Strange coming from a 20 year old...
But the young people in it were so shit.

Streep and Firth and Brosnan... and all the other main characters of an older than 20 age were wonderful in it. Great stuff, nice and fun.

The young 'uns really dragged it down for me with their "look, I'm so pretty and poppy and wonderful and I'm going to try and look ace and popular instead of focusing on my acting and having fun".
( vix0r was not Matthew on, Sun 20 Jul 2008, 1:43, closed)