REVIEW: With this 'Mamma Mia,' you can sing, if you dare

By DAN BENNETT - Staff Writer | Wednesday, August 27, 2008 9:43 AM PDT ∞

When singing ABBA songs in full voice among a crowd of strangers, "Mamma Mia: The Sing-A-Long Edition" offers one clear advantage for the easily embarrassed: It's dark inside the theater.

The point, though, is to just let go and once again find the long-lost dancing queen deep inside you. Or, if you are a man, sing along while also envying the male characters allowed to spend time on a stunning Greek island with a surprisingly huge population of beautiful women.

Let's be honest, though, "Mamma Mia" is intended mostly for women, and the newly released sing-a-long version is clearly intended as a marketing ploy to get groups of women in theaters to enjoy the movie musical that has scored big at the box office the past several weeks.

"Mamma Mia," based on the hit stage musical ---- that work based on the catalog of hit songs made popular by the Swedish pop group ABBA during the '70s ---- stars Meryl Streep as Donna, a single mother running a hotel on that lovely Greek isle. Donna's daughter Sophie is getting married, and secretly invites three of her mother's former flames to the wedding. Any one of these men could be Sophie's father ---- nobody knows for certain. The men are played by Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard.

The concept is an excuse for the characters to wail on those infectious ABBA songs long dismissed by music hipsters as so much useless ear-candy fluff, songs enjoying a shelf life that just won't quit. Those songs include "Dancing Queen," "S.O.S.," "The Name of the Game," "The Winner Takes It All," "Take A Chance on Me" and the title track.

The sing-a-long edition makes it easier ---- and in fact encourages audience members ---- to sing along with the characters, and their fellow audience members, in effect contrasting those pre-show public service announcements scolding that silence is golden. The lyrics to the songs are displayed in bright, colorful letters at the bottom of the screen.

At a preview screening of the sing-a-long edition earlier this week ---- probably apropos to nothing, the same night Hillary Clinton gave her speech at the Democratic National Convention ---- a crowd of mostly women, many around age 50, seemed tentative at first to give it their all, but relaxed and seemed a little more comfortable with the concept toward the end of the screening. If they had sold shots of ouzo at the concession stand, that might have helped, quite frankly.

All is well and good with the sing-a-long edition, mostly, and certainly it's a pleasant diversion. Here's a vote in favor of the concept, though I do wonder if it will seem a little weird toward the end of the run, with around 12 people in the audience, and with only four of them belting out the songs. No matter, it seems these ABBA songs just keep the party going. It's probably long past time we surrendered any doubt, and simply bowed to their lasting power.

B "Mamma Mia: The Sing-A-Long Edition"

Starring: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried

Director: Phyllidia Lloyd

Studio: Universal Pictures

Rated: PG-13 (for some sex-related comments)

Running time: 108 minutes