Mamma Mia (Amanda Seyfried)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s ten years - almost to the day! - since my younger son and some of his friends introduced me to the musical film ‘Mamma Mia’. Set on a Greek island, liberally peppered with Abba songs, I liked it very much. So when I saw the DVD inexpensively at a sale, I thought it a good idea to buy a copy.  However I wasn’t sure if my husband would like it; he’s not a fan of musicals, in general.

Last night he suggested we watch it, thinking it could be light and relaxing. He does like Abba songs, so I mentioned that the story is essentially written around them, with not a huge amount of plot. Indeed, I hadn’t remembered much of the story at all, other than that it involved a wedding, and Meryl Streep.

Amanda Seyfried is the real star of this, however. She plays Sophie, a young woman of twenty who is about to get married. Her mother - Meryl Streep - runs a guesthouse in a Greek island, although it’s rather run-down. She and her staff are preparing a huge feast for the wedding, and rooms for guests, and there’s clearly a lot to be done.

Sophie tells her two closest friends (and bridesmaids) that she has invited three men to the party, one of whom must be her father. Her mother never told her his name, but Sophie has found her journal from twenty years earlier, and it’s clear that there are three possible candidates. Sophia wrote to them, and they have all said they’re coming… but her mother doesn’t know.

We then meet these three very different guys: Sam (Pierce Brosnan), Harry (Colin Firth) and Bill (Stellan Skarsgård). Bill is a laid-back kind of guy who owns a boat. Harry is quite uptight, and Sam is a wealthy businessman. There are some deleted scenes - which we saw afterwards - that introduce them properly in context; these scenes probably wouldn’t have added much to the story but were very interesting to see later.

The three end up arriving together in Bill’s boat, and being led to a very dilapidated room by Sophie… who hasn’t told any of them that they might be her father. She thought she would just know when she met them, but this isn’t the case…

So there’s quite a comedy of errors, punctuated with musical numbers (sung by the cast, although in most cases they sound very Abba-like). There are huge crowds involved, and some amazing choreography. There’s humour (Colin Firth’s comic timing is superb) and some poignancy, too.  And of course there’s Meryl Streep, looking so like her film daughter that I wondered if the actress was her real mother. Apparently Streep was 59 when she did this role, in which she dances and leaps about like someone at least twenty years younger.

Of course it’s all rather silly, in the way that musicals are, where everyone dances and sings while the rest of the action stops. But it looked as if everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves, and it’s so well done that I was quite caught up in the story (such as it was). My husband had spotted that some of the scenery was set in a studio, but I hadn’t noticed; it was explained in the ‘making of’ extra which we saw later.

The one person we felt didn’t quite fit the role (and really didn’t sound at all Abba-like when singing) was Pierce Brosnan as Sam. We couldn’t quite believe in him as Sam, and would have preferred him to have rather fewer solo roles. All of the actors apparently did their own singing (in a studio) and in most cases it was excellent.

Although the UK rating is PG, and there’s nothing explicit, nor any violence, there are a lot of innuendoes. There's also quite a seductive scene part-way through, although nothing comes of it. And of course the entire storyline revolves around three different people having slept with Sophie’s mother twenty years earlier. So I wouldn't recommended it for children or any younger teens who might find this shocking or embarrassing.

But with that proviso, I would definitely recommend this for a light evening’s viewing even if you don’t like musicals in general (unless you also don’t like Abba songs - there are a lot of them!).

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

Pretty Woman (Julia Roberts)

It’s nearly nine years since we first saw the film ‘Pretty Woman’. It’s considered almost a classic nowadays, and is the film that first made Julia Roberts’ name - I had forgotten that it was made as long ago as 1990, and that she was only 21 when it was produced.  

Roberts plays Vivian, who is a prostitute in New York. This is not the kind of scenario that would usually draw me into a film, but although the situation is very sleazy, and Vivian’s clothes extremely revealing, there’s nothing explicit. It doesn’t seem as if she quite fits the scene: I can’t tell what kind of accent she has, but despite her clothes she comes across as rather more sophisticated than her friends.

Richard Gere is the co-star, playing a very wealthy businessman called Edward. He is divorced and has just broken from a long-term relationship, basically because he’s never available to her. And, indeed, we see him in his office, consulting with his lawyer, making deals. It turns out that he doesn’t actually trade in or make anything as such; he buys failing businesses, divides them up into smaller entities (often destroying their original aims) and then sells them at a massive profit.  And he’s very good at his job. 

He’s on his way to a hotel in preparation for concluding another business deal when he gets lost in the neighbourhood where Vivian works. She tries to solicit him, but he explains that he just wants directions. She offers to show him where the hotel is, at a cost… and he agrees. He even lets her drive when she starts criticising his style, and then - somewhat against his better judgement, it seems - he invites her to stay the night with him. 

Edward needs an elegant woman to accompany him to some business dinners, and suggests Vivienne might like to stay longer, and fulfil this role… after which she has to buy elegant and expensive clothes (on his credit card), and learn which fork to use for each course….

The story is essentially a modern take on ‘My Fair Lady’ (which of course is based on the classic ‘Pygmalion’). And it works very well. The script is good, and Julia Roberts is excellent, gradually learning to like being surrounded by luxury - and also to be much too fond of Edward. There’s some humour, some poignancy, and a slightly overdone (but entirely satisfying) fairytale-style ending.

We weren’t so impressed with Richard Gere, however. As a businessman in a suit he is mostly believable - incisive, hard-hearted, determined to make as much money as he can, irrelevant of anyone else’s preferences. However his expression rarely changes - he has a kind of slightly amused look on his face all the time, no matter who he’s speaking to, and while it’s easy to see why he is attracted to Vivienne, it’s not obvious at all that he is. Unsurprisingly his heart begins to soften a little, but neither his voice nor his face change, and it’s a bit hard to believe in his transformation. 

On the other hand, he proves to be an unexpectedly talented pianist.

On the other hand, we absolutely loved Hector Elizondo as the hotel manager Barney; he was the perfect mixture of formal and friendly, following the rules but acknowledging that some of his best clients sometimes break them. Some of the best scenes involve him, often with Vivien too. 

It was revealing to see the attitude of some people to young women in Vivian’s profession - and how a credit card can get pretty much anything, at least in the world in which Edward lives. The amount of money he earns - and pays - seems astronomical, and that’s thinking about today’s money in a film that’s now thirty years old. 

The rating is 15, which seems about right. There’s not a great deal of bad language, and only one real scene of violence, which is short-lived, although there are other threatened ones. And of course there’s a lot of discussion of what prostitutes do, and some scenes of intimacy, although most are implied and there’s nothing too explicit.  In the slightly more prudish US censorship system it's rated R, which is equivalent to a UK 18.

It’s not, in any case, the kind of film that would be of any interest at all to most children or younger teens - or even older teens, necessarily, as Edward comes across as staid, almost middle-aged. 

But for those over 18 wanting a good light romantic story, with a bit of humour, and who doesn’t mind the theme, I would recommend it highly.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Nia Vardalos)

We wanted something light-weight and not too long to watch, and ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ seemed to fill those criteria perfectly.  We last watched it in 2012; it’s one of the few films that I’ve now seen four times in all, but it’s extremely well-made with plenty of amusing scenes, and some excellent casting.

Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos) is the central character in this film. She’s the academic daughter in a typically Greek family living in the United States. There’s a hospitable mother, Maria, (Lainie Kazan) who regularly peels potatoes for thirty or more relatives, and who knows just how to deal with her very patriarchal husband Gus (Michael Constantine).  

Gus is a typical (albeit caricatured) Greek who believes his culture is the best in the world. His children go to Greek school, and they’re expected to work in his family restaurant in their teens, and then marry Greeks so they can produce Greek babies. But Toula likes to study; she sees ways that the business could be more efficient, but her father doesn’t respect her ideas. It’s not that he’s unpleasant or unkind - he adores all his family. He’s just rather tunnel-visioned and can’t see beyond his own upbringing. 

Toula, who is considered frumpish by her family, is attracted to a non-Greek American called Ian (John Corbett). By the time she meets him, she’s working for her aunt Voulla, and has somewhat upgraded her image to be more fashionable, and they quickly become friends. Then more than friends. But she knows her father won’t approve, and it’s not until they’re spotted by a neighbour that her family finds out about their romance.

We watched some of the extras this time - short snippets with several of the cast members - and were interested to learn that Nia Vardalos wrote a lot of the script, based on her own family and romantic life. That explains why it all feels so believable, albeit a tad caricatured. And of course Ian’s parents are equally caricatured - but believable - as a rather uptight and very respectable American family. 

We remembered some of the more amusing lines, of course - the origin of the word ‘kimono’ as a supposed Greek word has become a classic reference, as has the idea of a mother as the ‘neck’ of the household, under the ‘head’ but entirely in control.  But we’d forgotten a lot - including the way Ian is so good-natured, and so willing to enter into Toula’s world despite its being quite foreign to him. 

The dialogue is excellent, the pace just right, the choreography superb… and the whole a very enjoyable, albeit light-hearted story of a cultural mix that actually works. 

Highly recommended.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews