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'Mamma' kicks butt
August 6, 2008

Mamma Mia! kicks Sex and the City's butt.
I say that as a card-carrying (in this case, a driver's license for age and gender verification is all that's required) member of the target audience for both films. In the wake of SATC's box-office success, much was made of the legions of "older" (not sure, but I think that means anyone over 30) females who swiped their credit cards for the chance to see four old friends -- who btw, are also "old" friends-- reunite on the big screen. Carrie Bradshaw and company had a built-in audience of fans of the long-running HBO series, and the film's $150 million b.o. take proved their loyalty. I was a fan, and I did swipe my card to see the reunion but, honestly, left feeling that the experience was fun, but a little flat. Sort of like watching a season of 13 shows truncated and run together to make a movie.
Not so with Mamma Mia! I'm not a big Abba fan (though who can't sing along?), and never saw the stage musical. But Mamma's got a beautiful Greek setting, three manly men (who get more to do than the eye candy in SATC), catchy tunes and 59 year-old Meryl Streep playing the role of a woman at least a decade younger and looking like she's having a helluva lot of fun doing it. How bad could it be? 
Awful, it turns out, and fabulous at the same time. The first time a cast member began to sing, I thought "uh-oh, I made a mistake." And the feeling returned every time Pierce Brosnan hit a first note. But once I relaxed and went with this movie, I had a great time.
It's nice to see women friends be there for each other, a la SATC, but it's great to see women friends there to remind each other that they can still summon the sass they had 20 years ago. Meryl Streep probably wears a larger dress size than Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall put together, and she's twice as much fun in her bed-jumping, overall-wearing, pop song-singing role. 
A few weeks ago I, like many retailers, was opining that the studios ought to get out of their own way and save some of the summer b.o. bounty for the first quarter. But now I'm a firm believer that Universal would be crazy not to bring Mamma Mia! out in time for the holidays. 
SATC's just been officially announced for a September release. So us "old" gals will have plenty to choices for gifting one another!

 

Posted by Marcy Magiera on August 6, 2008 | Comments (0)