“Mamma Mia!” Is Out Of Control
“Mamma Mia!” is the new musical starring Meryl Streep and full of some of the best hits from ABBA. Meryl Streep puts her vocals to work in the movie and she does it beautiful and with ease. The director Phyllida Lloyd finessed the corny set-ups and refused to treat the product like a blockbuster, the results were very sweet and even moving.
However assured her theatrical talent, Lloyd hasn’t yet determined what sort of film director she has in her. She goes at “Mamma Mia!” like a frisky, easily distracted puppy. Slow-mo leaps in the air; pop-eyed reaction shots: Everything’s in twinkle overdrive. As with most stage-to-screen transfers, about a half-hour of material has been excised, and “Mamma Mia!” never had that much story to begin with.
The performances are more competitive than collegial, at least among the women, and Streep—formidable as always—doesn’t exactly ease into the material. It’s more like a well-planned beach assault. She calms down fully at one point and one point only, during the mother/daughter wedding prep scene “Slipping Through My Fingers”; tellingly, the number’s also the calmest and most purposeful in its directorial approach.
The rest of the show is supposed to be frantic and manic in comparison. Yet what flowed easily and well onstage, thanks to “Dancing Queen” and various other irresistibly catchy ABBA tunes, lurches and pushes on-screen. Call it “My Big Comparatively Thin Greek Wedding,” and let’s hope the next Meryl Streep musical fares better, as does the next film by director Lloyd.