Mamma Mia!

WHEN I was in London about five years ago, Mamma Mia just started its run at the West End. I so wanted to watch it, but our sponsor's PR/feeling reporter insisted on getting us tickets to Lion King instead...grrr. Nagparinig na kaming mga editors sa kanya about our preference, but dead-ma. She was so set on watching Lion King.

I'm not dissing Lion King naman. It was a very good production, creative in the way they set up certain scenes like the stampeding animals, and I liked the songs But a few of us kinda got bored with it (we saw the movie na noh!) and left without finishing it. We felt it would be appreciated by a kiddie audience instead. If I had more time (and the money!) to stay in London, I probably would've gotten around to watching Mamma Mia. After all, I grew up on the songs of Abba, and still think of myself as, ahem, a Dancing Queen.

Well thank you for the movie, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson! I just watched the film adaption and it was such a hoot! It's a story of a young woman (Sophie) trying to find out who her real father is, and unknown to her mother (Donna), secretly invites her mom's three ex-lovers (Sam, Harry, Bill) to her wedding. Sophie doesn't know exactly who among the three men are her fathers; she just wants one of them to walk her down the aisle.

Sure the plot is kinda Pinoy in its predictability and camp, but what made the film work was the music, and the outrageous performances of its superstar actors led by Merryl Streep (who plays Donna), Pierce Brosnan (Donna's ex- Sam), and Colin Firth (another ex- Harry). Who knew Ms. Streep could sing so beautifully?! Christine Baranski, a Tony-award winning actress who has crossed over to the film industry (I remember her in Chicago), just sailed through her performances as Donna's friend Tanya. And how could I not appreciate Julie Walters, one of my favorite British comediennes, who plays writer Rosie? (Okay so it was a stretch to make her sing, but so too for Pierce.)

Of course, some of the acting became medyo OA (hay, Colin Firth), but the film was just pure fun. I just wanted to get up and dance in the cinema while singing the Abba songs. (I settled for singing out of respect for the other people watching.)

The audience also gets the feeling that the entire cast just enjoyed themselves making it. (How could they not when they were filming in fabulous Greece? Sigh...I wanna go there!) But it was pretty obvious that Ms. Streep had the most fun. In one interview she said she did the movie just to annoy her kids. Haha. She can be my mom anytime!

Btw, cuteness alert: check out Dominic Cooper who plays Sky, fiancee to Donna's daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried). Yummy.

Warning: Watching this film may make you afflicted with the last song syndrome.