::holds breath::

pips!

PIPS PIPS WHEREFORE ART THOU PIPS?

Death by "Waterloo" is the worst kind :-(

It's sweet of you to ask. Turns out, I got a reprieve. My mom said she'd rather spend the time with me for her birthday than at a movie. I have a lovely mom. (Oddly, I'm almost disappointed. We may still go see it in a couple weeks.)

No one can resist the ABBA!

Meryl Streep was sublime, but everything else was atrocious. And it turns out I don't like Abba. If Pips is comatose in some hospital, I would totally understand.
Oh, and Pierce Brosnan can't sing to save his life.

On preview, luck you, Pips.

I survived it. We did not get there until Friday night. It was surprisingly crowded, if not full. I saw two Agent Scullys in line for the X-files movie, which gave me a smile.

I went into Mama Mia with low expectations and it did not disappoint. Nice scenery, pretty people, a mindless story, and Meryl Streep apparently enjoying herself.

I'm seeing it tonight! Like danf says, I heard Meryl Streer is beaming and seemingly having a great time throughout the entire movie. But, if you're Meryl Streep you can do anything.

If you want to save the 10 bucks, Pips (or whatever movies cost in NYC these days), I can tell you how to replicate the movie experience right in your own home.

Crank up some ABBA. Write, "You go girl!!!" on the head of a mallet. Have someone WHACK YOU ON THE HEAD WITH IT for 80 minutes.

I wish I'd done this.

Also: what's up with them thinking they had to keep the gay character all chaste and sexless? They think the people coming to an ABBA movie would freak out at seeing the character, I dunno, maybe TOUCH another guy? WTF?

"Crank up some ABBA."

I heard that if you turn the sound down on Rocky Horror and start playing the Mamma Mia soundtrack...

Yeah, I saw it. I was bored. Meryl Streep kept looking *just like Meryl Streep*. Perhaps that's a failure of my imagination? I liked the group dance scenes okay.

Pierce Brosnan was the only saving grace. High-larious.

My friends loved it, for whatever that's worth.

I don't really have much desire to see this (I'll stick to Muriel's Wedding if I ever need a quick wedding-related ABBA fix), but I did notice a really weird cross-promotional thing this morning as I was packing a lunch. Hostess are making these portion-controlled snack items that are marketed as "100 Calorie Packs", and printed on the boxes there's an offer for two free music downloads from the Mamma Mia! soundtrack.

What are Hostess and Universal Pictures trying to say here? Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but am I the only one who thinks that this is a really crass and cynical cross-promotional ploy?

Okay, so like, Miko and I were at the beach and I'm trying to EXPLAIN to her how great Herman's Hermits are, and she's not buying it, and I'm going through like EVERY SINGLE GREAT Herman's Hermits song I know, like "No Milk Today" and "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat?", and "There's A Kind Of Hush (All Over The World)", and then she's all "hey, they made an ABBA movie called Mamma Mia with Meryl Streep innit", and so I'm all "what? No they din't - you just don't like Herman's Hermits and are teasing me", and she was all "No, seriously - the New Yorker liked it!", at which point I knew she wasn't frontin' because Miko lives for the New Yorker and wouldn't lie.

So I'm sitting there on the beach, thinking about how absolutely GREAT Herman's Hermits are, and how ABBA sucks, and how it is I could be dating someone who doesn't like Herman's Hermits, but then I notice that she wants TO GO SEE this movie, and then I realize just how serious she is about ABBA.

and I'm trying to EXPLAIN to her how great Herman's Hermits are

So... this is the set-up to a joke?
See what I did there?

I'll admit that I kind of like "King Henry VII, I am," mainly for the 'second verse, same as the first,' line.

So... this is the set-up to a joke?

...and I'm still waiting for the punch line.

BoringPostcards, that is the funniest response. I can just picture it.

My mother is Mamma Mia!'s target audience. She lurrrrved it.

I don't have a strong opinion about Abba, but I can say that I owe them some gratitude: This thread got "Mamma Mia" stuck in my head, oh-so-mercifully replacing that godawful jingle from that FreeCreditReport thing.

Right now, I love Abba too.

LT, did you know that there were Herman's Hermits movies???!!! The one I put in the link was screened at the American Cinematheque about ten years ago for their British Invasion series and Peter Noone spoke afterwards. He noted that film studios wanted their slice of the pie after the soundtrack to
A Hard Day's Night made tons of money...even if the movies were crap (this one could have used a much better ending). Also, it was a big thrill at the time for him to meet the father on Dennis the Menace. They're not on dvd so you'll have to check listings.

FWIW, the New York Times thought that Mamma Mia was a bad movie to love.