Whether or not you’ll enjoy watching the big screen version of the hit musical “Mamma Mia” will largely depend on your expectations. If you expect it to be as good as last year’s adaptation of “Hairspray,” you will likely be disappointed. If you expect that dreamy Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan can carry a tune, again, you’ll get disappointment in spades. If you care about detailed, logical plots and well-rounded characters…well, you get the point.
However, if you are looking for something fun, joyful, not driven by special effects or comic book characters, you will like “Mamma Mia.” If you enjoy Meryl Streep, ABBA music, or exotic locations, you will really like “Mamma Mia.” If you care nothing about plot and are mesmerized by bright, shiny colors, you will love “Mamma Mia.”

I hear that the movie sticks pretty closely to the Broadway show, but regardless, the premise is a simple one that is fully explained in the commercials on TV. A beautiful young girl, Sophie, is getting married and she wants her father to walk her down the aisle. The only problem is, she is not exactly sure who her real father is because her mother was a wild child 20 years ago and was, uh, very social. There are three daddy possibilities and Sophie invites them all to the hotel her mother runs on a tiny island off the coast of Greece. Then the hijacks, misunderstandings, and dance numbers begin.
This is a long way from being a great movie musical–and I have to wonder if someone like Baz Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge” ) had taken this on if it could have been a masterpiece–but I found it an enjoyable diversion nonetheless. If nothing else, it proves that Meryl Streep really can do and play anything and make it work. But beyond that there are flaws a plenty if you look for them. So I simply suggest that if you go see the movie, put your mind on a summer vacation and just sing along.