Mrs. Nat’s TV and I snuck out to see Mama Mia! this weekend. Well, “snuck” is relative. For us to get out sans the sweet li’l gal requires planning and expense; between movie tickets (actually, “free-with-DVD” tickets, getting Housesitter and Xanadu at Costco for $10 apiece), gas, popcorn, dinner after the movie, and sitter, we’re talking north of $100.
The film was actually dumb fun, in an old-fashioned anything-excuses-a-song type of way. Pretty people (not all of whom should really be in a musical), pretty settings, nothing too inobvious or surprising; a good thing to take your best gal to. And like many such things, it falls apart a bit if you look at it carefully. It’s not giving away anything that isn’t in the first five minutes (or the trailers) to say that it’s about a mother (played by Meryl Streep) who conceived a child during a, shall we say “active” period in her young life, and the about-to-be-married 20 year old doesn’t know which of three men is her dad.
Except… well, if Meryl’s Donna character is as old as she looks (as old as Meryl is), then these youthful indiscretions took place during her late 30s. That doesn’t exactly match with the world-view they’re depicting.
