BEFORE: It may be the last day in February, but my romance-themed chain is going to be running over into March. I've got a few more modern films on topic, then I'm going to snap back to the 1960's for some Richard Burton/Liz Taylor films. Then that leads me (at long last) to the old Sherlock Holmes films, then after that I'll be back on more modern stuff before the end of the month. That should give me time to sort through the Academy screeners and find the ones I'll need for April, and also record a few more key movies from cable on to DVD.
Meanwhile, Colin Firth carries over from "Bridget Jones's Baby", and as an added bonus, in both films he plays one of several possible fathers, one of the two fathers of a baby last night, and one of the THREE potential fathers of an adult woman in this film. It's a rather odd coincidence.
Here's the schedule for tomorrow, March 1, on TCM's "31 Days of Oscar" with more Best Picture nominees and winners. Looks like their programming is going into overtime, also.
6:00 am"The Crowd" (1928)
7:45 am "Smilin' Through" (1932)
9:30 am "Stage Door" (1937)
11:15 am "Double Indemnity" (1944)
1:15 pm "Anchors Aweigh" (1945)
3:45 pm "The Pride of the Yankees" (1942)
6:00 pm "Sounder" (1972)
8:00 pm "An American in Paris" (1951) - winner
10:15 pm "My Fair Lady" (1964) - winner
1:30 am "Oliver!" (1968) - winner
4:15 am "The Broadway Melody" (1929) - winner
I'm going to cross off another 5 as seen: "Stage Door", "Double Indemnity", "An American in Paris", "My Fair Lady" and "Oliver!" Now, I don't own a copy of "Oliver!", so I'd like to record it tonight - the only problem is, my cable guide is listing tonight's films as screening again tomorrow, and I know that can't be right. The weekly TV guide from the Sunday Daily News also lists a Thursday repeat of Wednesday night's films, namely "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "Patton", "From Here to Eternity" and "Casablanca". I don't know how this happened, the whole point of this programming is that they're NOT showing any films twice, all month long. Someone in the programming department really screwed up on this. I don't think I'll be able to record "Oliver!" as I planned, because the wrong movies are listed on my DVR guide, with the wrong starting times.
But another 5 out of 11 brings my total up to 127 seen out of 323. Up to 39.3%
THE PLOT: The story of a bride-to-be trying to find her real father, told using hit songs by the popular 1970's group ABBA.
AFTER: It stands to reason that by the time I finally get around to a movie, there's often a sequel in the works. When I watched "Paddington", the trailers started circulating for "Paddington 2", and by the time I got to the first 2 "Bridget Jones" films, the third one was due in theatres about 6 months later. It's almost like Hollywood doesn't take my schedule into account when they set release dates, and as a result, it feels like I'm always playing catch-up. So of course, in just about 5 months, there will be a sequel to this film, called "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again".
I kind of forgot this was a Broadway musical, too, just like "Beauty & The Beast" was. Is there anything that can't be turned into a Broadway musical, and then (back) into a film a couple decades later? I guess it's a world of cross-platform entertainment, and if you're not adapting your material into a new format, then it's just dying on the vine.
Like "Bridget Jones's Baby", this story tries to wring the maximum amount of dramatic tension out of the fact that a woman can have several sex partners and then NOT know which one got her pregnant. You would think that this girl would have asked her mother who her father was at some point during her first, what 18 or 20 (?) years of life, and you would be WRONG. This is something so important, so character-defining, so all-encompassing that it simply can NOT be broached during casual conversation. Instead she must steal her mother's diary, review her entire sexual history, and invite the three most likely candidates to her wedding, despite the fact that none of them have had any contact with her for the last two decades. So, this all must be done behind her mother's back, for fear that this could lead to an open, honest conversation between them - God forbid THAT should happen.
No, this is a family that has to SING all of their important conversations about their feelings, in the form of chart-topping ABBA hits. Feeling concerned about money? There's an ABBA song for that, it's called "Money Money Money". Feeling hopeful about the future? There's a song called "I Have a Dream". Feeling flirty? "Take a Chance on Me" is right there, or if the man being flirted with is on the younger side, then there's "Does Your Mother Know?".
The bride in question here is Sophie, daughter of Donna, who (unlike Bridget Jones) decided that she didn't need any man's help in raising a child, and - get this - she actually stuck with that plan! Good for her. But she sort of took it to the other extreme, by not telling Sophie anything about who her father was, and that just seems ill-advised also. Doesn't she have a right to know? Well, at least the situation is comically complicated, although I really don't see the humor in the situation. By the same token, each of the three possible fathers deserved (at the very least) to know that he MIGHT have a daughter. So even though everyone is happily singing pop tunes, in essence everyone here is being really horrible to each other, just by not discussing this topic.
Two of the potential fathers miss the ferry that will take them to Donna's Greek island resort, the location of the wedding, so they're forced to ride on the boat belonging to the third possible father. What a coincidence, it's almost like some god-like screenwriter wanted them to all meet and hash out their differences or something. Also heading to the island on the proper ferry are Donna's old mates from her girl group, Donna and the Dynamos, and when they perform together later, it's the perfect opportunity to shoehorn in the last few ABBA hits that didn't seem to fit anywhere else ("Super Trouper", for one.)
One by one, Sophie lets her possible fathers know that they might have passed on their genes, and they react in vastly different ways. But it leads to a very awkward wedding ceremony when all three men come forward to give the bride away. It's almost an "I am Spartacus!"-style moment, except "I'll take a third of a daughter!" doesn't quite have the same ring to it. But considering how absent all three of these men have been over the years, perhaps being a third of a father is the best that each one of them can do.
Unfortunately, some of the performances were spoiled by two things - Pierce Brosnan's lack of singing ability (easily the worst of the three men, but at least he tried) and the over-emoting from the women, Streep's a bit over the top and Baranski is WAY over the top. That's a stage actress who clearly was playing to the cheap seats, only that doesn't really work in a movie, it just makes everything come off as super-corny.
Also starring Meryl Streep (last seen in "Ricki and the Flash"), Amanda Seyfried (last seen in "Lovelace"), Pierce Brosnan (last seen in "The World's End"), Stellan Skarsgard (last seen in "Cinderella"), Julie Walters (last seen in "Paddington"), Dominic Cooper (last seen in "Warcraft"), Christine Baranski (last seen in "The Pick-Up Artist"), Philip Michael, Juan Pablo Di Pace, Ashley Lilley, Rachel McDowall, Enzo Squillino, Niall Buggy, with cameos from Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Rita Wilson (last seen in "The Bonfire of the Vanities").
RATING: 4 out of 10 townspeople in the "Greek chorus" (I see what you did there...)
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