Mama Mia
Headline: ** Shrill and Stagey **
Title: MAMMA MIA!
Quality: * * Acceptability: -3
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: V
Sex: SS
Nudity: N
RATING: PG-13
RELEASE: July 18, 2008
TIME: 108 minutes
STARRING: Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, and Colin Firth
DIRECTOR: Phyllida Lloyd
PRODUCERS: Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Beny Andersson, Tom Hanks, Mark Huffam, Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Rita Wilson
WRITER: Catherine Johnson
BASED ON THE PLAY BY: Catherine Johnson and ABBA
DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures/General Electric
CONTENT: (RoRoRo, FeFe, HoHo, Pa, LLL, SS, N, AA, DD, M) Very strong hippy Romantic worldview with strong feminist view where girl searches for her father who could be one of three men because her mother slept around at the time she was concieved, plus some solid homosexual references, including men kiss and want to "get married" and there are pagan references to a Greek goddess; 6 obscenities and at least 48 profanities (two strong); some pratfalls, but no serious violence; constant discussion of sex by women and, to a lesser degree, by men in wedding party, during one song woman places mock phallus between her legs, woman slides down banister hurting herself, young African American man tries to have relationship with older woman, who mocks "going down" on him, one person turns out to be homosexual, and two men kiss; brief rear male nudity, some upper male nudity and low cut dresses; lots of alcohol use, some to get drunk; drug references; and, lying and deception.
GENRE: Musical Comedy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
Please address your comments to:
Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman/CEO, General Electric
Jeff Zucker, President/CEO, NBC Universal Entertainment
Ron Meyer, President/COO, Universal Studios
Marc Shmuger, Chairman
David Linde, Co-Chairman
Universal Pictures
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608-1085
Phone: (818) 777-1000
Web Page: www.universalstudios.com
SUMMARY: MAMMA MIA! is the movie version of the hit Broadway musical about a young woman trying to discover the identity of her father. The hit Broadway musical has not been translated well into a movie and suffers from not only uneven direction, but a lack of a moral direction, including a very strong Romantic worldview with too many crude sex references.
IN BRIEF:
MAMMA MIA! is the movie version of the hit Broadway musical, which centers around a young woman named Sophie, who wants to know the identity of her father before she is married. Sophie learns her mother, Donna, had trysts with Bill, Sam and Harry at the appropriate time to give birth to Sophie. Sophie invites the trio to come to the wedding. Donna, however, does not know about the potential fathers showing up. Lots of musical numbers describe the actions and emotions leading up to the wedding. Although no one wants to spoil this mediocre movie, it does not end on a Christian note but rather on a Romantic one.
This translation from stage to screen leaves much to be desired. However, Amanda Seyfried, who plays Sophie, has a beautiful voice. The movie's immoral premise as well as the action is filled with sexual conversations and lewd actions by the characters. It is extremely difficult to successfully adapt a musical to the big screen. In this case, it is not a success. Even if the filmmakers had done a better job, they would have needed a stronger moral compass to appeal to media-wise viewers.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
