Villordsutch confesses his love for Mamma Mia!…
I have on occasion been called a “film snob”, and I freely admit that my snorts of disgust are not restrained when the likes Taken, Taken 2 and Gerard Butler are heard. I have on occasion been known to argue with people when the mention they’ve watched (for example) a “brilliant film with Gerard Butler in it!” to the point where I’d possibly also end up with the title of a “wanker” at the end of the argument.
I like a good film that holds you and tells you a story on an obvious level and also on a level which flows underneath, like a strong undercurrent that holds you and tugs at your thoughts for days, weeks or years. You want to return to these films to watch the beauty unfold again and again. Whether it’s happiness or pure melancholy, the films I hold close to my heart films are ones that bring emotions out of people. I have a trend which generally revolves around these nouns – isolation, loss, faith, hope, and edification.
My favourite top five films are 2001: A Space Odyssey, Watership Down, Solaris, Cloud Atlas and Sunshine. As you can see the nouns above fit well into my chosen five. Now here is the oddity… people can call this a “Guilty Pleasure”, but I hold no guilt nor am I ashamed to say I really enjoy the film adaptation of Mamma Mia!. Nope you read that right, I think Mamma Mia! is a great film.
I first watched Mamma Mia! absolutely and utterly steaming drunk with my wife. I’d bought, for my wife, the special boxset which included a Mamma Mia pen and Mamma Mia diary, and you could also press the box and a rather tinny burst of the title song emitted from it. My wife was eager to watch it, I knew I’d have to watch it with her, and like all things you don’t want to do it is best to approach them three times over the limit.
What follows is a daft film with James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) attempting to sing, Colin Firth playing Mark Darcy from Bridget Jones but with a sprinkling of safe homosexuality (so not to offend), and bottom baring Stellan Skarsgård being invited by Amanda Seyfield who pretended to be her mother whilst sending the invite. The mother is played by the great Meryl Streep. The story is that Meryl’s character was a bit promiscuous about 18 years back and we don’t know who is the father of Amanda Seyfield and nor does she, and Amanda wants to be given away at her up and coming wedding by her father. What follows is a giant farce as we run around a great-looking island with the occupants of the little piece of Greece belting out ABBA’s greatest hits and dancing around like the only source of fluid on this island is Red Bull. We end with tears both bad and good. You feel great and drink some more Fursty Ferret.
Now here is the odd thing, for over a year now I’ve not been allowed to drink alcohol (due to illness, not due to the meetings and my sponsor) and the other day my middle daughter wanted to watch Mamma Mia! as she loves it. She put it on and the fear kicked in, but ten minutes into the film I was once again hooked – this time completely and utterly sober. Booze was not needed to enjoy the all singing, all dancing farce. The even weirder thing is I can’t stand bloody ABBA.
So I recommend to anyone else considered a film snob that they give Mamma Mia! a look, but first drink your weight in specialty ales to suppress the film snob in you.
Enjoy.
Villordsutch is married with kids and pets. He looks like a tubby Viking and enjoys science fiction. Follow him on Twitter.
Originally published August 3, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
