Movie Review: Mamma Mia!

My friend Allison and I went to see "Mamma Mia!" today. My first outing leaving both kids at home with my husband (and I turned off the cell phone)!

I looked online after the film, and sadly, I had a hard time finding a good review -- but that's what I'm about to write.

My first experience with Mamma Mia! was with Huntsville's Broadway Theatre League a few years ago. The play was fantastic -- the characters so alive, with the pairing of the ABBA music -and a great love story with a twist I didn't expect - so I had high hopes for the film.

I freaked when I saw the trailer for it before "Sex in the City" - OMG! A movie version! That, and "The Dark Knight," both in the same summer?

So, I'm not a film critic -- I don't go to the movies with a pen and paper to jot down notes throughout the experience. I go for, well, an "experience." I judge a film overall, and don't let one or two bad apples in it spoil the whole thing.

Meryl Streep was wonderful - I wasn't sure what I'd think of her, but she played a tough, but fun, broad ("Donna") who's had a hard life raising her daughter Sophie and keeping a hotel running on a Greek island. She sang well, too. I did wish someone would give her a bobbypin or two, to keep some of her hair back, but she carried the film well. Her two BFF's, played by Julie Walters and Christine Baranski, are awesome too. The three of them are really fun to watch together. I hope when I have reunions with my girlfriends 10 or 20 years from now, we're that crazy!

An aside - ask Dan Satterfield what he thinks of Meryl Streep if you ever run into him. His answer might throw you for a loop.

Back to the movie. Pierce Brosnan plays "Sam," the leading man who hasn't been in Donna's life for 20 years, and is suddenly back after Donna's daughter, Sophie, invites him and two other men to attend her wedding. One of the three men is Sophie's father, and Donna doesn't know they're coming.

The others two actors (Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard) sing very little, and frankly, I wish Pierce would have sang a little less, too. Ladies, we know why he got the role. He looks GOOD.

(But isn't there another handsome leading man out there who tried out for this role, who could sing a little better? He was a little painful to listen to.)

Amanda Seyfried plays young Sophie, the betrothed, and is no doubt the strongest singer in the film. I really enjoyed her performance. She was fun, bright, enthusiastic, all the things a bride should be in the 24 hours leading up to her wedding.

I won't go into what happens in the film, or name all of the players, because you can read that elsewhere, and it's late and I'm tired. Those of you who have seen the play know what happens and if you liked the play, you'll like the movie. (Well, I did, but some out there in web land don't necessarily agree with me.)

Judging on the whole experience, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Any fun movie musical with a good love story tied in has my support.

Two Wedding Showers, a Baptism and Birthday Party

Whew. What a busy weekend. It is Wednesday morning now, so I know the weekend is way over, but we're just catching our breath.

Had a busy few events this past weekend -- I helped host two wedding showers on Saturday - one during the afternoon for my cousin, Mike Suckow, and his fiancee, Jennifer Rice. They'll be married on August 3. Then, on Saturday evening, I helped host another shower, this one for my good friend, Allison Palmer and her fiancee Jason Blackburn. They'll get married on August 9.

Those went well - thank God they weren't at my house. That would have been too much!

The next day, Nick was baptized, on his 2-month birthday, at Good Shepherd Catholic Church. To be honest, we never got our camera out of our purse, with all the craziness, but plenty of our friends and family took pictures. My good friend Deanna Lawley is Nick's godmother and is going to send me a CD with pics.. I'll add a few when it arrives. Thanks, Dee!

Sunday afternoon, Elena's 3rd birthday party. We did a "Wizard of Oz" themed event and Elena wore her Dorothy costume from last Halloween. We played some cute games, "find the ruby slippers in the yard," "pin the heart on the tin man" and "break the somewhere-over-the-rainbow pinata."

I warn you, if you even think about doing a pinata at a party for your child, have a few extra adults on hand to keep the kids back! We had a few wander dangerously close to the child with the bat. Phew! That would have been disastrous! But no one got hurt, thank goodness.

We had a wonderful time, but honestly, much of it is a blur to me. It was really hectic trying to keep up with all the kids!

Dee helped serve as the photographer for that event, too. Will post some pics soon.

Hope you're doing well! I return to work on August 4th. Can't say I've missed it.. it will be good to have some adult conversation, though. I think my brain has turned to mush.

:) Claire