Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (read sarcastically)
- Thomas Charest
- Jul 24, 2018
- 2 min read
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is one of those rare instances where the sequel is better than the original. That, by no means, is an endorsement for this movie, since Mamma Mia! is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. However, I was not angry when I left the theater today. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (MM!HWGA, as it will be referred to henceforth) was a poppy exploration in the similarities between a mother and daughter across time, at least that was the intent. It was really two distinct movies connected by character names and the band ABBA. Half of the MM!HWGA was about Lily James as a young Meryl Streep, trying to find herself by going to a remote Greek island and making three handsome lads fall in love with her within one week and quickly banging them. That was the better part of the movie. Lily James was perfectly cast, with the voice of an angel and a smile that can brighten the darkest soul. The entire cast in the flashback scenes was comprised of competent singers, which shows that the studio learned from their grave error from Mamma Mia! Having talented performers and using the music as a narrative construct made the flashback arc entertaining and bearable. There were problems, such as shallow characters and dangling story threads, but it wasn’t bad. I would give the flashback part of MM!HWGA 2 out of the 3 young bucks that Lily James slept with right after meeting. The other half of MM!HWGA was about Amanda Seyfried opening a luxury hotel on the island and struggling with the turmoil caused by having three super rich father figures who might not come (they come) and a super rich husband who might not come (he comes) and then having a storm hit the island. But everything turns out fine because Andy Garcia plays a mysterious Mexican who can fix anything and predict weather and because a bunch of fisherman brought non-paying professional dancers for the grand opening. Whenever the movie was set in the present, it fell apart. The performances, outside of Amanda Seyfried, were worse and then there was the Cher cameo. For context, Cher plays Amanda Seyfried’s grandmother, who has been absent her whole life, but decides to turn a new leaf and be a good grandmother after seeing that Seyfried has a solid support system that has already gotten her through her hardest times. She also doesn’t have a voice that is good for singing ABBA songs. Every time the movie flashed forward to the present, I found myself counting the seconds until it returned to the vastly superior past. I give the present storyline of MM!HWGA 15 (the age of Cher’s face) out of 72 (the age of most of the rest of Cher). So in total, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again earned 17 out of 75.
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