My views: 11
Remember those "phases" I mentioned in my first post? Well, this is one of them. Not only have I managed to see this film 11 times since it was released in 2008 (later than any other movie that made it on this list), all 11 of those views took place over a span of approximately 14 months. When I first saw it in a theater in 2008, my sister had already seen it and told me that it was hilarious, so I was quite excited. Apart from Pierce Brosnan's abysmal singing, I was not disappointed. Okay, so it's not a great movie, but it's a lot of fun to watch. I'm not afraid to admit that ABBA music makes me feel incredibly happy, so what could be better than an entire movie devoted to it? As if that wasn't enough, it features Colin Firth, whom I still find hopelessly attractive even when he's playing a gay man. I also really enjoyed seeing Amanda Seyfried in a role other than Karen from Mean Girls, which was the only other thing I'd seen her in. But, as is the case in all Meryl Streep films, the real star is Meryl Streep.
I feel like I did the Meryl Streep fan thing backwards. While I'd seen her in a couple of movies prior to this, it wasn't until after Mamma Mia that I started to go back and watch a bunch of her earlier films. I know a lot of people consider this one of her worst movies, and I'm not saying I necessarily disagree, but this is one of the more fun movies that she's in, and, strange as it seems, it's what turned me into a Streeper. Because she's just fabulous. And yes, I realize I'm using that word too much on this blog, but that doesn't make it any less applicable. Anyway, I kept watching this film mainly for the songs and the cast and the happiness that it imparted.
And then, after obsessively watching this for a while, I got kind of tired of it, and so did the rest of my family. I think part of it was that my mom really doesn't like this movie, which kind of put a damper on my feelings toward it. A lot of the movie watching I've done has been with my mom, and I think I probably would have seen Mamma Mia even more than this if she'd liked it. Regardless, there are very few movies I can watch 11 times in a little over a year without tiring of, and this did not turn out to be one of them. I'm sure I'll watch it again at some point. In the meantime, I listen to the soundtrack not infrequently, although I usually skip Pierce Brosnan's songs. Nothing against him as an actor, but this was not the right film for him. Couldn't they get anyone who could actually sing? Also, I'm really sad they didn't put Waterloo on the soundtrack because, let's face it, that's the best part of the movie.
I guess I wasn't paying attention when I put this list together; I had no idea so many of these were musicals. If you don't like musicals and you're still reading this, thank you for bearing with me, and I promise there are more non-musicals coming up. And if you do like musicals, don't worry, there are more of those too.
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