The Women Who Run With the Moose, (that’s me and my friends, Celeste, Rita, Betty, Dot, and Shirley), went to see “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been wicked busy lately, so I’m just getting around to reviewing it. Which is a problem, because I can’t really remember much about it. A cotton candy kind of movie, that’s what I’d call it: light and fluffy and a lot of fun while you’re eating it. But if someone asked you afterwards to describe what it tasted like, you’d be hard pressed. I know! That makes it the perfect summer movie.
Did you see the first “Mamma Mia” movie? Basically the new one is just like that only with more young people. Though the middle-aged characters are there, too, having a great time. Even Meryl Streep, whose character Donna is dead, appears at the end to sing a song, kind of like Ann Hathaway in “Les Miserable.” I love Meryl! She always makes me cry, and she did not disappoint. Actually, there were a few times I shed a tear or two, so I’m giving this movie a one-Kleenex rating. Hey, they can’t all be “Sleepless in Seattle!”
Question: Did Meryl’s character die in the first movie? I can’t remember. I think they must have killed Donna off between movies because Meryl couldn’t free up a lot of time in her schedule. But how did Donna die? Was it breast cancer? A para-sailing accident? Hard to come up with an ABBA song for Meryl to sing on her death bed, but if anyone could pull it off, she could.
This is the sort of movie where you find yourself thinking, I can totally see why these actors agreed to be in this. Who wouldn’t want to hang out on some Greek island, yucking it up with a bunch of fun people. I mean, you can’t play a concentration camp survivor in every movie.
“Mamma Mia 2” did have a lot of flashbacks which Rita has a hard time keeping up with. Especially, when the actor playing the young Pierce Brosnan doesn’t have the same accent as the hunky, older Pierce.
Though I gotta say, for my money, Andy Garcia edges out Pierce in the hunk department. ‘Course, I’ve had a thing for Andy going back years. So, in terms of Hunk Factor, I’d give “Mama Mia 2” high marks. You got your younger hunks and the older ones, so there’s something for everyone.
Now, the movie is also a study in plastic surgery. You got Julie Walters, who is looking great, but normal, you know? She’s just going with the aging thing like the rest of us regular folks. Hats off to her. Christine Baranski, that lawyer from “The Good Wife,” has obviously had some work done, but she still looks like herself. (To be honest, I was a little jealous of that neck.) Then there’s Cher, who plays Meryl’s mom, even though in real life she’s only three years older. Apparently, they just couldn’t picture Maggie Smith or Judy Dench rocking those bell bottoms. I gotta say, Cher is starting to look spooky, folks. That girl’s been nipped and tucked to within an inch of her life. Why, her face is so tight, she can barely smile! And she has no parenthesis around her mouth. That’s just not normal! It looks like her lips are going to float away, because there’s nothing keeping them in place.
One of the funniest parts of the movie (well, to me, anyways) was when they invite all these old, Greek fishermen and wives, who are all dressed in black and gray, over to the island for a party. But a few minutes later, when the fishing boats are spotted coming toward the island, they are filled with all these young people in brightly colored clothes, singing and dancing their hearts out. No crusty old fishermen and their missus in sight.
I’ll wrap this up by saying that though the music is perky, it’s not ABBA’s most popular songs. Dating myself here, but it’s mostly the B side stuff. My opinion? They should’ve used the same hit songs as in the first movie. We don’t care. We just want to have fun and sing along.
Let’s review. We went through one Kleenex: not too bad. We have a high hunk factor, which is a good thing because it’s a little light in the story department. Bonus points for perky music and the fact that everyone (when they’re not mooning around or cry) looks like they’re having fun.
So, my Rotten Potatoes rating for “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” (and I’m confused about the placement of that exclamation mark, just saying), I’m gonna give it a four out of five potatoes, because it’s summer, we had fun time, and it’s only been only a couple of weeks. I have a feeling, though, that if you ask me next January, I’d probably turn to the girls and ask, “Did we see that one?”
That’s it for now. Catch you on the flipside!
Here Ida Tell It: “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”
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