Mamma Mia!

(USA/Great Britain/Germany, 2008, 108 minutes)

A young bride invites to her wedding the three former boyfriends of her mother, one of whom is the father she's never known. Giddy, airheaded musical extravaganza based on a long-running stage musical entirely built around songs by mid-seventies Swedish megastars Abba, transposed directly from the stage by the very people who created it in the first place but with an added star cast; the narrative is a mere hole-riddled clothesline to hang a sterling set of hit songs and the handling is perfunctory rather than efficient, but the fun had by the cast does shine through and the whole thing turns out to be harmless, cheerful fun.

Universal Pictures presents a Littlestar/Playtone production; in association with Internationale Filmproduktion Richter. Starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski. Directed by Phyllida Lloyd; produced by Judy Craymer, Gary Goetzman; screenplay by Catherine Johnson, based on the stage musical Mamma Mia!, book by Catherine Johnson from an idea by Judy Craymer inspired by the songs of Abba, music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus with Stig Andersson; original score by Benny Andersson; songs, music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with Stig Andersson on some songs; musical director, Martin Lowe; director of photography (Technicolor, Panavision), Haris Zambarloukos; production designer, Maria Djurkovic; costume designer, Ann Roth; film editor, Lesley Walker; choreography, Anthony van Laast.