Mamma Mia! (Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried)

(Amazon UK link)

Mamma Mia! was perhaps quite a risky film to make, rather in the style of 1950s musicals with the cast breaking into song and dance at rather unlikely moments. Except that the songs were all originally by the group Abba, many of them very well known. And there was something of an all-star cast, headed by Meryl Streep, who was brilliant as ever in an energetic role that belies her years. She can sing, too.

I watched this DVD with friends, unsure what to expect. The setting is an idyllic Greek island, with a planned wedding for a beautiful daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried). Meryl Streep plays her mother, but as we quickly learn, she has no idea who her daughter's father might be.

However, Sophie has found some old diaries of her mother's which suggest three possible candidates... so she boldly gets in touch with them all, unknown to her mother, and invites them to the wedding. Chaos, as can be imagined, quickly ensues.

The plot was clearly written in order to feature the Abba songs. While some of them fitted in well, I felt that some were rather contrived - although quite amusing. The whole thing was light-hearted and great fun, with some excellent singing and dancing by the women although we were less impressed by some of the male voices.

Rated PG-13 in the USA, PG in the UK.