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Mamma Mia - absolute cack indeed

Monday, 14th July 2008

I couldn't disagree more with Melanie Reid, who raves about Mamma Mia:

The result is an uninhibited, fun, cheesy, hugely tongue-in-cheek women's film that has, as few others have done, parted the critics like the Red Sea. The highest-browed men, poor things, entirely missing the irony, have struggled to cope with Streep in a popular role, or to find words hate-filled enough to describe the result: “absolute cack”; “silliness unredeemed by wit or polish”; “super pooper... soulless panto”; “hideous... a crock of hooey”; “Streep meets her Waterloo”. My colleague James Christopher, the Times film critic referred to “Hollywood blancmange” and said that the “sight of a Greek conga of local scrubbers vamping to Dancing Queen on a wobbly wooden pier is a truly terrifying spectacle”.

...Never have the posh male critics been marooned higher or drier. They have missed the joke, you see. Almost everyone else in the world, it seems - especially women - got it. People love this movie despite its flaws. They love that it celebrates middle-aged women; that it laughs at itself continuously; that it is shamelessly silly and heart-warming.

I think she misses the point completely. Criticism of the film has nothing to do with criticism of Abba. I am man enough to admit that I like Abba. Most pop music lives me cold but I think Abba's music is infectiously memorable and the lyrics perfect. But the film is indeed absolute cack, and that judgement has nothing to do with my gender.

I saw it on Friday night with my wife. We both went in the same frame of mind - looking forward to some mindless but well produced and fun rubbish. I'd seen the stage version and guiltily enjoyed it.

But the film is not just rubbish - it is hideously bad: appallingly written, witlessly directed and sung as if by mice being tortured. I think most five year olds would find it insulting to their intelligence. It makes Teletubbies look like The Iliad in comparison.

One other thing. I suppose I will sound hopelessly blimpish when I write this, but what sort of message does it send when a film which is hailed as delightful froth is centred on the story of a woman who sleeps with three different men on three successive nights and doesn't know which one is father of her child? Is it any wonder family life is collapsing?

It is beyond my comprehension how anyone with an ounce of intelligence could argue that Mamma Mia has any merit whatsoever. As the first commenter on Melanie Reid's piece puts it:

The most dreadful film I have seen in my life. Ever.

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Water

July 14th, 2008 9:04am

"It makes Teletubbies look like The Iliad in comparison" mwahaha

andy

July 14th, 2008 12:27pm

Brilliant post Stephen, you're really made my day!

ryan

July 14th, 2008 6:43pm

stephen- yes it is cack, preposterously cack.

and yes, you do sound hopelessly blimpish in your penultimate pararagraph.

Kate

July 14th, 2008 10:12pm

What?! This is the most ridiculous review I have ever read.
First of all: the reason family life is collapsing is because of the 'cack' on television at the moment - Eastenders, Hollyoaks, etc which, due to bad parenting, children are watching. Mamma Mia! is quite the opposite (I saw many mothers and daughters in the cinema watching it together, myself being one of them) because it's fun and feel-good, and also promotes a strong mother/daughter relationship.
Secondly, let's face it, it was never going to be a filmmaking masterpiece but why should it be? That isn't its purpose. Mamma Mia! is something to see to raise your spirits through good music and a fun storyline. Everybody who came out of that cinema was smiling - how is that a bad thing? Just leave the movie alone if it isn't to your taste.

Phlips

July 23rd, 2008 5:45pm

I love a bit of high camp but I went to this with my parents and cringed at how cheesy and cynical it was and how much they seemed to be enjoying it. I don't need a film to affirm my relationship with my mother and I don't suspend my critical facilities just because Hollywood dishes up some knee-jerk "emotional" cliched shmaltz. The critics are way-off when they take the opportunity to sling mud at each other on the basis of gender - you don't have to be a woman to enjoy this film - you just have to be in a very silly mood.