Theatrical Experience: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Director - Ol Parker

Writers - Ol Parker, Richard Curtis and Catherine Johnson

Starring - Amanda Seyfried, Lily James, Pierce Brosnan, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Dominic Cooper, Cher

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is The Godfather Part II to Mamma Mia's original Godfather. Boom. That's called a hook right there. Comparing the ABBA karaoke musicals to two of the most revered movies ever made. Boom. You're hooked. You need to keep reading to see how I justify it. Well, let me let you in on a little secret, it's all razzle dazzle, much like the outfits in this film.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and The Godfather Part II are both simultaneously sequels and prequels to their predecessors. They use their structure to draw parallels between the main parental figurehead's life and how they got their station in the first film and the direction of their adult child's life after the events of the first film. The Godfather Part II explored Vito Corleone's violent rise to power in the criminal underworld as he became the titular Godfather while showing Michael's continued descent into the criminal life after assuming leadership as the end of The Godfather. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again explored Donna's (James) post-graduation dreams as she travels to the Greek island of Kalokairi while having whirlwind romantic encounters with the three men who would go on to share paternity of Sophie by the end of Mamma Mia while Sophie (Seyfried) attempts to honour her mother's memory by reopening the Bella Donna Hotel on the same Greek island.

You know, let's just get into it now. The family dynamics of the Mamma Mia universe are a little bit unconventional. By the end of the first film, the three men who had flings with Donna over a summer 20 years earlier have bonded, becoming great friends and agreeing to share all act as Sophie's fathers while one of them marries Donna and all of this postpones Sophie's marriage to Sky (Cooper) because they didn't actually really love each other. The first movie was a bit of a mess. Now that the mess has been sorted and these dynamics firmly established the sequel is free to celebrate them. Sam, Harry and Bill (Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgard respectively) can be the best friends/communal fathers they want to be in a positive, healthy manner. Sophie can... oh wait... she married Sky between movies...uh... ok... let's come to back to that one.

The dynamics are set up but some details still need to be filled in, such as how three men all fell hopelessly in love with one woman over the course of a few weeks to the point that they accept wedding invitations from her daughter and put their lives on hold to travel to Greece twenty years later. The prologue sections of the film attempt to fill in these details, while also showing the Donna's growth from university graduate to strong single mother.

After graduation she heads from England to Greece via France wherein, upon a brief stopover in Paris, she meets Harry (Hugh Skinner), a young British banker. A meet cute involving Harry locking himself out of his hotel room leads to a full day of romance culminating in a night of passion before Donna continues her trip to Greece. In Greece she meets a Swedish sailor named Bill (Josh Dylan, 100% not even close to Swedish) who takes her to Kalokairi after she misses the ferry. While there she meets an architect named Sam (Jeremy Irvine) during a storm and spends a week falling in love with him before it abruptly ends and she takes up with Bill.

These quickie romances are the kind of light and fluffy, meet-cute driven stories movies have done many thousands of times before, and with several details revealed in the first Mamma Mia (eg Sam's engagement) there are very few surprises here. Thus, the success of these relies on the charm and chemistry of the actors. Lily James is outstanding. This is a starmaking performance for her. Cast as a young Meryl Streep, she has perhaps the biggest shoes a young actress could be asked to fill and she more than succeeds at the task. It's a shame that none of the men she shares the screen with provide much of anything at all. Sure, they succeed at being attractive and perhaps at filling fantasy roles for young Donna but they are just plain bland. For people who thought Lily James' romance with Ansel Elgort in Baby Driver was too developed and too passionate, her three romances here all make Baby and Deborah look like Jack and Rose or Jesse and Celine or whatever your favourite romantic pair is.

Donna's growth is done well though, as she maintains her course and uses her pluckiness and determination to chase her dreams no matter what obstacles befoul her (missing the ferry, being chased by a goat, etc). After Sam leaves her on Kalokairi her friends Tanya and Rosie (Jessica Keenan Wynn and Alexa Davies) join her and help pick her up as she discovers her pregnancy and performs upkeep on a rundown farmhouse. Donna is an infectious character, with Lily James providing all of the charm in the world, and it is nearly impossible to not root for her during these sections.

The sequel sections are generally the stronger portion of the film though is does encounter a couple notable speed bumps. The first one is Sky who continues to be the worst character in the series. He spent the first movie largely just existing and being around as Sophie's fiancee despite no evidence of them having any sort of affection towards each other until their wedding got postponed. Between movies they got married allowing Sky to move on to being the worst husband in the world. Not only is he in New York while Sophie is planning the grand reopening of her mother's hotel, but he wants to turn his temporary work stay into a permanent one. I guess Sky would prefer the easy life of working for the man rather than running his own business with his wife. Later he shows up in Greece anyways with no evidence of him changing his mind to be happily ever after with his wife. This romance makes all of Donna's past romances look like Jack and Rose.

Luckily Sophie has three fathers, one of which already lives on the island, and two others who do realize that they need to be there for their daughter. Their revelations happen on screen and they are shown to make sacrifices making their journey mean something as they rush to support their daughter and join in the celebrations.

I suppose I should mention the lack of Donna in the sequel sections as she passed away between the films leaving the characters to mourn and giving Sophie impetus to open the hotel. She receives support from the adult version of Tanya and Rosie (Baranski and Walters) and even her grandmother (Cher) bringing everything together in a joyous celebration.

Overall this film is a significant step up from the mediocre original. Where Mamma Mia was seemingly happen to just let famous actors sing ABBA songs, Here We Go Again takes steps towards making an actual movie musical. From basic musical things like actually staging and choreographing the numbers and improving the singing to developing a winning tone. The story isn't really much of anything and all the male actors under 30 are terrible but that winning smile really shines through. After every stumble the film picks itself up, brushes itself off and continues on with confidence. It's got an infectious spirit. It's not the best movie of the year but if you don't crack a smile during the film you have no soul.

Schurmann Score - 7/10

The Musical Numbers

I've barely mentioned the music so far. I didn't forget it, I'm just going to cover ALL of it in its own section. I will try to keep this as spoiler free as possible but I will be talking about ever musical number from the start to the end of the film as best I can recall (there are 16 full numbers and one partial number to talk about). These will all be scored by "The First Penis I Saw" scale as that is the greatest ABBA inspired musical number in existence.

"When I Kissed the Teacher"

Donna's graduate song is more playful that suggestive as she and the Dynamos lead her entire class through a celebration of their education from the graduation hall to a bike ride to the river leaving their parents and teachers dumbfounded. It's a stupid number but it's a lot of fun and the first showcase for Lily James who will have to try and make a lot of shit work in this film.

8 Zucchinis out of 10 possible suggestive vegetables

"One of Us"

Fuck Sky. Literally seconds after hanging up from a phone call with his wife wherein he expresses his desire to continue living halfway across the world he wants to talk to her again. Stupid writing. Maybe you shouldn't have told her you don't care about her dreams. Fuck you Sky.

The dirtiest penis ever

"S.O.S."

This right here is probably the best point of comparison between the two Mamma Mia films. In the first Pierce Brosnan sings way too much. His singing is vital to the climax of the film. It's terrible. Here, he gets one verse of "S.O.S." and it's actually done well as a mournful yearning to his dead wife.

One turntable ride that didn't last nearly long enough

"Waterloo"

In the hands of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, "Waterloo" becomes a joyous anthem to losing one's virginity (which is actually perfect for our scale). A young Harry stages an elaborate battle scene in a kitschy Parisian restaurant managing to link the Napoleonic Wars with popping his cherry.

One jaw dropping penis

"Why Did It Have to Be Me?"

Young Bill has Sophie out on his boat and starts to seduce her, because of the implication. His act is very nice guy, but Sophie sees right through it in a good, playful, teasing song.

2 suggestive vegetable microphones out of 3

"I Have a Dream"

This is the musical number during which Lily James slides down a bannister so hard she collapse the entire staircase. It's a rundown house but that might have been a little excessive.

So young, so big and strong

"Kisses of Fire"

The most throw away number in the film. Performed by a band in the restaurant Donna starts singing at it's fine but I wouldn't have even remembered it happened if it wasn't on the list on Wikipedia.

The opposite of the first penis: the last penis?

"Andante, Andante"

Donna's audition song to prove she can sing at the bar and Lily James kills it. She also proves that she deserves to get into Sam's pants but by this point in the film Lily James has already established that she deserves anything she wants

Fog enveloping you when you open a freezer

"The Name of the Game"

Donna's happy in love song until she finds out that Sam is engaged. It's a fine number, complete with picking oranges and running from a goat but just doesn't stand out at all.

Touching it through his pants

"Knowing Me, Knowing You"

Disappointing. It's "Knowing Me, Knowing You", one of the big ABBA hits everybody knows. It's got a key part in the film as the breakup song between Donna and Sam but it just doesn't land. Perhaps because the next number is so good it completely overshadows this one in my memory but it's really hard to recall its impact

50% off suggestive vegetables (because they're already spoken for)

"Mamma Mia"

By this point in the film I was pretty sold on Lily James as the young Meryl Streep. This song proves that she's better than Meryl (at least in Mamma Mia). She puts everything into this song and it's absolutely outstanding. The transition into the first chorus is a bonafide starmaking moment.

I couldn't find a single flaw

"Angel Eyes"

I really like Christine Baranski in these movies ("Does Your Mother Know" might be my favourite number from the first film) and Julie Walters is pretty good too but this one just didn't work for me. Probably because it was about Sky and his presence just ruins everything. He's the Jon Snow of the Mamma Mia universe.

One limp suggestive vegetable

"Dancing Queen"

What a joyous song this is. Harry and Bill do the Titanic pose. An entire island of people join in the singing and dancing. It's fucking glorious

I really seemed to love it

"I've Been Waiting for You"

Sophie performs with the Dynamos intercut with a key moment in the prequel story. It's a good number that continues the celebration started in earnest with "Dancing Queen"

Two excited backup dancers out of two

"Fernando"

Controversial opinion time! Cher is the worst singer in the film. She gets a big entrance and this showstopping number and just bombs it. It's supposed to be a duet but she just doesn't give a shit and completely sings over Andy Garcia. Sure, he's no Sonny Bono but this is a series that lets Pierce Brosnan sing, you gotta give him a change. But no, Cher is her trying to shape a big ABBA hit into her own thing and it's bad.

Walking into a supermarket wanting foot but everything it cardboard cutouts of things with the word Jeff printed on them

"My Love, My Life"

Spoiler Alert:

Meryl appears. You knew she had to. She's still not a very good singer but this is such a big moment, ending the film on such an emotional high as she ghost duets with her daughter.

3 alternating Persona-shots out of 3

"Super Trouper"

The big encore. The second best end credits musical performance of the year (go see Paddington 2 to see the best one. Actually just go see Paddington 2). Everybody in the cast joings in. It's a great scene that manages to lift the underperformers up. Cher walks it back a little. Hell, even Sky is good as he's reduced to doing some of the Soo-Pa-Pa Troo-Pa-Pa backing vocals which is the most he should ever be allowed to do. A joyous end to and overall joyous film

Everything about it seemed quite ingenious

This review is brought to you by Patrick Swadden as he proved to be smarter than me earlier this year. He could have picked any movie ever made and he chose the Mamma Mia sequel.