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The latest craze over Mamma Mia!, the musical inspired by and filled with ABBA songs, is both believable and fantastic at the same time. It’s believable because it gets to the hearts of many women. We love the singing, the dancing, the men. The movie completely fits with our popculture lifestyle of escapism. We want to dream about a rich man sweeping us off our feet so that we don’t have to work anymore like in “Money, Money, Money.” Mamma Mia! is a classic Cinderella story—without the stepfamily, or a fairy godmother, or a lost shoe. Okay, maybe that’s a bad analogy. Perhaps it’s just fairytales in general where true love meets wealth. It’s quite unlike reality where the two rarely meet.

The unbelievable parts are the super cheesy fantasy sequences and the fact that we buy into them. The Greek chorus is a bit confusing. Are they distanced, involved or both? They are taken a bit too seriously, at least until the credits. Perhaps this is my only complaint about the movie? One of my female friends who went with me to see the movie (for my third time, her first) was amused by Pierce Brosnan’s singing. There seems to be much discussion on websites about his lack of singing abilities, but I still find him attractive and engaging as a performer. At least he does better than Rex Harrison did in My Fair Lady. He pretty much talked his way through the songs in that musical. At least Brosnan gives it a go.

Brosnan is not the only attractive actor in the movie, either. Colin Firth always makes my heart melt and certainly does so in this movie, despite the fact that his character is, um, well . . . I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie. I’ll just focus on his performance which is brilliant, as usual. His one particularly shining moment is when he sings “Our Last Summer.” I was pleasantly surprised at how great a singer he is. I’d only ever seen him in things like Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, Pride and Prejudice and other great British flicks. He didn’t sing in any of those movies. Firth is just as charming as he was back in his Pride and Prejudice days. I think a big part of it is his self-deprecating sheepishness.

I know my age is showing as I think the actor, Dominic Cooper, who plays Sky is a beautiful man, but I just don’t feel an attraction towards him. He seems like a kid—a cute kid, but a kid. If I were that young again I know I would think him really sexy and quickly develop a crush on him.

Stellan Skarsgard, who plays Bill, is great as well, but I don’t feel an attraction towards him like Brosnan and Firth. Just not my style, I guess. Of course, there are probably many of you out there who like him. Tell me about it, or about your other favorite actor in Mamma Mia!

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