Mamma Mia (5 Stars)

Amanda Seyfried plays Sophie Sheridan, a 20-year-old woman only a few days away from her wedding. She's lived all her life on the small Greek island Kalokairi, where her mother Donna owns a small, unsuccessful hotel. She wants her father to give her away, but there's a problem: her mother has never told her who her father is. He left before she was born. That's all Sophie knows, and it's all her mother wants to tell her.

By chance Sophie finds her mother's diary for the year before her birth. The problem is that she had intimate relationships with three different men within two weeks. Sophie invites all three men to her wedding, sure that she'll recognise her real father when she sees him. All three men accept the invitation, but it's not so easy. All three think she's their daughter when they realise when she was born. All three want to be her father and give her away at the wedding.

Donna, on the other hand, doesn't want to see any of them. She wasn't a slut, however it might seem. There's a saying in England: "Good men are like buses. You wait for ages, then three come at the same time". Sam, Bill and Harry were Donna's three good men, and she's remained single ever since because she's never met anyone else like them.

Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard and Pierce Brosnan play the three potential fathers. They're three very different men, all special in their own way, and any of them would be a father for Sophie to be proud of.

The film is best known for including a selection of Abba's hit songs, but that doesn't distract from the fact that this is a beautiful story. "Mamma Mia" made me cry, and I would have been just as moved without the songs. It's a beautiful film in all respects: the music, the acting and the idyllic Greek scenery.

A sequel has recently been made, ten years after the original film. I'm always sceptical about delayed sequels. Usually they suck. I'm going to see it next week. I'll tell you what I think.

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