Mamma Mia!

It's a musical created around the songs of ABBA; it's incredibly optimistic and playful, even though the songs aren't always cheerful. I just can't help but rate it highly because this is simply a film that always brings me immense joy, and I'm just so enthusiastic about it. Plus some of the newer versions of the songs are also very good, even if the original is the original. (25/10/2015)

Four amazing actors sold themselves out to a naïve script, a talentless director and a colorblind Greek director of photography. Even the slugs in Microcosmos were filmed in a more dynamic, interesting and original fashion than the dance numbers in this movie, which is just cheap, TV-like entertainment for non-discerning audiences. It is an embarrassment for the first-league Hollywood musical genre. (24/08/2008)

Excellent for the effect, but at its core it’s a terribly naive movie with a script so silly that I have to admire the director's courage to dare to make a feature film with it. The dance choreographies are surprisingly bland and the cinematographer must have shot them slightly under the influence, but I still can't slag the film too much. The quartet of excellent actors do what they can, and together with a very pleasant atmosphere, a beautiful setting and, of course, the songs by the immortal ABBA, they manage to trump the non-existent story and somehow live up to the huge expectations that have accompanied this film since its release. Not great, but as an easygoing comedy for a relaxing summer evening it’s OK. 70% (09/08/2022)

I’m not the target group, but I really didn’t expect fingernails on chalkboard. Brosnan is the only person to put on at least an ok performance (not his singing), the others just spend the time making faces. Streep really didn’t deserve this. A cruel, unsatisfying ending and incredibly dumb people. It reminds me of Czech movies. (19/05/2018)

A well-known female film critic once wrote about this film that it is a crystalline kitsch, but so sweet and cute that it is simply impossible to be angry at it. This is where the poverty of film criticism manifests itself when almost all the reviews in newspapers and magazines are written by women, and gender bias inadvertently influences their reviews. I can only confirm that from my perspective, it is a kitsch unlike any other, but as a man, I wouldn't consider it cute. It can be considered a parody of itself, and even the songs of ABBA, which I grew up with, sound disgusting here and it's probably the worst use of musical motifs by a popular Swedish group that I can remember. While they usually enhance the atmosphere, such as in the case of the Australian film Muriel's Wedding, here they seem forced. Overall impression: 20%. (19/05/2011)