"Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" receives bad review in the NYTimes

Mushy ass meatballs reheated in the microwave bad.

Reviewer doesn't get that less Streep can only be a good thing. (I'll allow his point on Pierce Brosnan.) The only star power in Mamma Mia is ABBA's music. No one is expecting timeless cinema or Academy Award winning performances. You're going for a fun time with fun music and frankly, the sequel looks a hell of a lot more fun that the original.

Watch Jennifer Saunders' performance of The Winner Takes It All in the Comic Relief spoof of Mamma Mia to see why killing off Meryl's character was the way to go in the sequel.

Most of the reviews enjoyed it

That is fucking hilarious R2. Better than the first movie. Still the NYT review of MMII is ridiculous. Why does is sound like it was written by a gay teenager? I am curious now to see just how far away the camera stays from Cher though. They are all so fucking old.

It's not uncommon for a bottom to dislike something just because other bottoms like it. You see that on here often enough.

You often see the words "Streep" and "catastrophic" in the same sentence.

Wesley is a bitter queen.

This is why the NY Times is failing.

Can someone copy and paste the article? Is M's character dead?

Cannot compensate that this may be the summer blockbuster to beat.

Pure entertainment.

Cher

and Dead Meryl!!!!!!!!!!!

So let me get this straight. You want to make a sequel to a very popular movie (based on an even more popular musical) whose best asset was Meryl Streep, a very famous actor, who after decades of intergalactic acclaim, was unveiled, at last, as a major movie star. And you’re going to make that film — “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” — with every other member of the movie’s original cast, except for her but including poor Pierce Brosnan, whose singing, as a lovelorn widower, remains a dare to file a noise complaint.

And you’re going to keep the musical’s Abba-centric conceit — only you used up all the great Abba songs the first time. So now you’ve got to lean on second- and third-tier stuff like “My Love, My Life,” “I’ve Been Waiting for You” and “Kisses of Fire.” And because you suspect some of us might, not unreasonably, prefer numbers set to “Dancing Queen” and “Waterloo,” and because you’re running embarrassingly low on credible options, you recycle those songs, but with as little movie-musical imagination as you can get away with.

Now you don’t have Ms. Streep as Donna, the American proprietress of a Greek villa, and so because of scheduling, money, perhaps Ms. Streep’s dignity, you’ve killed Donna off. But you still need an element that lends the proceedings a whiff of showbiz. So you import the opposite of Meryl Streep. You import someone with one screen self (and one name!) as opposed to dozens, someone with buoyancy, immortality and a welcome sense of campiness, someone who can sing. You bring in Cher. But you don’t bring her aboard to play Donna’s sister, childhood bestie, long-lost lover or even rival Mediterranean hotelier. You hire Cher (who’s 72 to Ms. Streep’s 69) to play — oh, I can’t. Do I have to?

You hire Cher to play …

Her mother.

It takes about 90 minutes to get here. Because, in part, the movie, which Ol Parker wrote and directed, has to thumb-twiddle with a plot involving the grand reopening of Donna’s villa by her daughter, Sophie, who’s still played with a damsel’s distress by Amanda Seyfried. Oh, the stress. Will any of her three fathers — Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Firth and Mr. Brosnan — show up? Will her boyfriend, Sky (Dominic Cooper), or her mother’s best friends (Julie Walters and Christine Baranski, lascivious as ever)? And what about that catastrophic storm from the first movie? Yes, yes, yes, and yes — but it’s a pitiful cinematic event, especially compared with Hurricane Cher.

When she does arrive, it’s almost ominously — by chopper, the way, in “Zero Dark Thirty,” the SEALs sneak up on Osama bin Laden, or how, on “Game of Thrones,” a dragon might invade Westeros. She’s Ruby, some kind of Vegas-encrusted entertainment legend who arrives in a bleach-blond wig and an outfit made with the pelts of a dozen disco balls. Meryl Streep’s mother? LOL. Lady Gaga’s younger sister? Bingo.

I know. It’s weird to fixate on a person who shows up with only 20 minutes to go. But believe me, it’s no hardship abandoning all the flashbacks to the tail end of the 1970s and the opening bits of the 1980s, when an obnoxiously blissed out 20-something Donna, who’s played by Lily James, sleeps her way around southern France and Greece, and does so immaculately, it must be said.

These are monotonous interludes meant to expand on and explain the legend of Donna — how she turned her university valediction into “When I Kissed the Teacher,” a number that not even the Muppets would endorse; how she wound up pregnant with a daughter of uncertain paternity; how she turned a bunch of dust and debris into the sort of seaside splendor you find only in a Nancy Meyers movie. It’s cruel to put an actor in the cross hairs of Streepists. So Ms. James deserves some credit for agreeing to make herself a target. And even though she did nothing for me (she’s ruthlessly plucky with young Donna’s platitudes), I’ll admit to admiring her choice to not even bother “doing” Meryl Streep. She seems a lot likelier to wind up as Dyan Cannon, a star of eventually spiked loveliness who is to Ms. Streep what a Lakers hat is to Carmen Miranda’s.

In the first movie, Ms. Streep luxuriated in a mode other than technical virtuosity. The director Phyllida Lloyd launched her upward toward the camera as a nifty metaphor for stardom. Now she’s haunting the new movie courtesy of what looks like an unflatteringly framed publicity still from the previous one. It’d be unhappier if it weren’t also passive-aggressive. The movie won’t let us miss her!

Her incandescence was an asset. It both attracted and blinded you to what, ultimately, was a movie about the pernicious allure of cultural imperialism. (You mean, a Greek enclave full of Brits, Americans and Mr. Skarsgard singing hits by Swedes couldn’t find even one vaguely Hellenic arrangement?)

Ms. Streep’s near total absence leaves a hole Cher is expected to fill. It’s too little, way too late, of course, and because it’s Cher, it’s also too much. The movie doesn’t know what to do with her, anyway. For one thing, the camera maintains a mysterious, disturbing distance. Her appearance does weakly justify all the Latin-lover hot air that Andy Garcia has to blow as Sophie’s glorified help. (His face is safely hidden behind a thicket of gray bearding.) But she’s so natural (and spectral) here that you don’t know why they didn’t just build a different movie around her and her decades of hits. Although, she’s no dummy. Her own collection of Abba covers is coming, and, as I write this, “The Cher Show” hurtles toward Broadway. So maybe her work here is best appreciated as a pop-up ad.

Mr. Parker does give the movie these flashes of old, literal-minded Hollywood staging, like when young Donna’s virginal suitor (Hugh Skinner) shoots “Waterloo” all over a French restaurant. But most of the movie’s 18 numbers just kind of sit there. You don’t feel much. So even when you get a goodie like “Dancing Queen,” wherein a lot of tan and actual brown people gyrate in unison on landward boats, you can simultaneously admire a perfect pop song and spare a thought for the real boat-bound migrants who’ve perished in waters just like these.

Most of the musical sequences are creaky, but not that far from some of what Damien Chazelle was going for with the singing and dancing in “La La Land”: passionate amateurism. But that’s some of what made the first movie such a kick. Nobody was Barbra Streisand. None of the songs were Stephen Sondheim’s. You were watching very good actors do karaoke in an Anglo-Nordic telenovela. Now you’re watching them do it in a sequel, which means you’re also watching something more inscrutably sad: karaoke of karaoke.

see me in the Poppins sequel this Christmas and some TV thing I'm doing with Tom Cruise's ex-wife. (the middle one)

What intelligent adult in his right mind would find any of this appealing?

It looks completely stupid and very very frau. I'll pass.

R2 Funnier than the actual movie

Here we go again. watching another shitty movie.

I saw the movie last night and completely enjoyed it...the movie is aimed at a younger demographic as Lily James and Amanda Seyfried are the main characters...Cher ties the movie up emotionally...I liked it better than the original.

Queers don’t forget me next year as Marmie in a fresh take on Little Woman. I have been told the director is visionary.

And dears try to be kind to my fond friend (no matter what she says) Glennie. The poor thing is going to be on that Horror TV show. I would rather work as a common waitress than Ryan Murphy. Also the poor thing is begging for an Oscar again. If I had to work so hard for ONE Oscar I would kill myself.

they went streepless

Are there lots of caftans?

It is a pop culture summer popcorn movie...with CHER.

Fuck Y'all; it ain't Chekhov.

Not meant to be.

Go back to complaining about Solo...

Amanda Seyfried has fallen off the scope in Hollywood. Box office poison. The other stars have also taken the plunge to at least B status.

It's a movie starring a bunch of has beens . And the Abba songs are all milked out. No thanks. They should have left well enough alone.

What slut-related illness killed Donna?

Was it anal cancer, like Farrah Fawcett?

I can't believe they hired the same choreographer who is getting them all to do that pointing schtick when they dance.

The French & Saunders parody said it all abut the original movie. It was made by total incompetents.

85% on Rotten Tomato.

The boys are hot.

Hot boys with bulges

The original movie was made by straights. This one was made by gays. It will be much better.

Cher is not B list, and won't ever be.

18 songs? most musicals don't even have that many.

A PHENOMENON!

Didnt they do most of the songs in the orginal ? why bother Brosnan was a terrible casting choice, that man’s singing voice is atrocious and put me to sleep.

Without Meryl? And they killed her? Oh, dear

I was surprised Fernando wasn't in the first film.

R37 right couldn’t they just have named one of the old slut’s flames fernando?

R38, you are vulgar and humorless. Blocked.

R39 no one gives a shit who you block mary

Meryl essentially only features in the final scene and post credits Super Trouper cast number.

I guess they did the best they could with Streep basically only agreeing to make a cameo.

Don't blame the producers.

All in all it was entertaining for what you expect it to be.

I saw it here in OZ at 10.30 in the morning on a Friday.

All sessions that afternoon and into the night had FULL signs on the display.

Looks like a big hit. Suck in in haters!

Meryl passed up the chance to be in a good movie. I guess The Post was successful but is already mostly forgotten. I can’t remember the last time Meryl was in a good movie.

[quote]I guess they did the best they could with Streep basically only agreeing to make a cameo.

She could only agree to a cameo. Richard Curtis had the storyline mapped out and it was planned for it to be a limited role due to story purposes.

Meryl!

Cher!

More Cher!

She’s almost non existent in the promotional materials. I thought it was because of backlash against her because of the Golden Globes and Harvey Weinstein/God thing. I didn’t realize they killed off her character and she was only in two scenes.

Amanda!

Is "That's Me" in the new movie?

That's my favorite ABBA song along with "The Visitors."

Cher can WALK!! Y'all said she had a stroke.

Wow. Even I must admit the bitch sounds good.

When I think I’ve read it all on DL, I come across a post that makes me gasp in its creative cruelty.

Clearly they hired the right people this time a music lover/ ABBA music lover who knew something about musicals unlike that total hack director who did the first. Funny thing Meryl worked with her again and won an Oscar for it. Wonder if that is the real reason Meryl only has a cameo. She was told the director of the first movie would not be asked back. I find it very strange Meryl only makes a cameo in the sequel to one of her biggest hits.

I'm going today, and hadn't realized the writer/director was the guy who did Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. No wonder it's getting mostly good reviews.

Pierce Brosnan seems super-gay all the sudden

Oh yes, the great Mexican US war-revolution of 1959! Not! If ABBA hadn't tied their hands by using the term Rio Grande, they could have used Bolivia, since there was a revolution there almost every year. And Cuba wouldn't fly with an American audience.

Husband and I just saw it and we both thought it was way better than the original. Lily James was beautiful and terrific in the movie. My favorite scene in the movie was actually the one Streep is in. It's a lot of fun and very poignant at times.

The Universal shills are out in full force lol

If you're referring to me, R58, check my previous posts. Not a shill.

So, what came first: The script of Donna's origin story (starring Lily james) or Merryl refusing to come back for the entire movie and only doing a cameo (and therefore forcing the Donna origin story upon the producers)?

Sorry, Meryl (please don't get angry and start singing!).

Cher can do no wrong, no how.

I did not like the first film

Does anyone really think Lily James looks like a young Meryl?

R63 as a young gay I used to like the part where they showed Bill’s daddy ass.

R64 - Google "suspension of disbelief."

Any outrage yet over the all-white cast?

Is Dom Cooper white white?

Cher's not white. Not before the bleaching.

Cher

Ethnicity: *Armenian (father)

*English, German, more distant Irish, Dutch, and French (mother)

Jesus R70. Are you that afraid the Cher has some black blood? Her mother had many many many many many many many many men. Without the skin bleaching Cher is not exactly white. All part of her exotic beauty, no?

R71

I'm not R69!

She's Armenian, get over it.

Armenian Idol; Lily James as young Meryl, baha, of course she deserves that enormous mismatch through her work. She lost her father young, I guess she enjoyed being around all those oldies, and it might help her in her remaining young years.

My sister just saw it and said it reminded her of The Return of Jafar in regards to low rent sequels.

We need more feel-good movies!

I just saw it and I LOVED it. I only liked the first movie because of ABBA, I thought it was poorly done. This one is well done, although the ABBA songs they chose were shit (and none of my favorites like Another Town Another Train, which would have been far less distorting to the plot than Fernando). I loved ABBA in the 70s when Americans pooh-poohed it as Eurotrash bubblegum music, and neither disco lovers nor disco haters would accept it. Oh well. This movie was beautifully done. The main problems were the dubbing of Cher got off in the first part of Fernando, which is a shame because her voice really is better than anybody else's in the movie. And Dominic Cooper was so unbelievable as a heterosexual in love, it was silly. When they put him in that disco drag he looked more like Freddie Mercury than Rami Malek in the preview for Bohemian Rhapsody. And his blubbering in the hotel room was more than Metro. Pierce Brosnan also queened it up, grabbing this younger self in the end like a pedophile. He wasn't just a poor singer, he was just a skeevy presence both in this movie and the last one. Just come out already and remember you're supposed to be doing a character. Colin Firth was nothing short of brilliant in his disdain for his younger self. And the younger Bill was so dramatically Scandinavian, it was a surprise to see his name is Josh Dylan. They also cast somebody else who couldn't sing as a romantic lead, namely Andy Garcia as Fernando. The most interesting character was the Greek owner. It was really too much to ask that girl to play a younger Meryl Streep, but she was 80% up to the job. The younger Julie Waters was magnetic and attractive, and very sympathetic in comparison to the older version. You have to hand it to Ol Parker, he made a silk purse out of a sow's ear, as they say.

There were lots of campy lines, like Cher's "holding a grudge makes you fat."

The times were also wrong for the "I kissed the teacher" song, even played woman on woman.

I'd pity fuck Ol Parker after this.

The timing was very good too. There was no wallowing, the movie moved right along to the end.

I think Pierce Brosnan thinks he's as big a celebrity as Cher, but there is nothing distinctive about him. He's either an actor or he's nothing. He does not have the personality for a celebrity.

Cher did a great job as the nasty Ruby.

Cher is a goddess, gifting us with her presence in film, song and tweet.

Meryl's appearance confused some of the Mare Cans in my theater. "I thought she was dead," they said.

The gays in my theater all loved it though.

the location shots were much better too.

[quote] Pierce Brosnan also queened it up, grabbing this younger self in the end like a pedophile.

1) Grab a dictionary and look up the definition of pedophile. 2) Take the dictionary and bash yourself in the face with it.

It is not Chekhov. Chekhov makes for LOUSY summer popcorn movies.

MMHWGA is BETTER than Chekhov.

It is a different kind of art.

I beg to differ, R90.

A begger you shall be, r90.

beggar^^

There was something in the air that night. The stars were bright.

I thought it was one of the worst movies I've seen in ten years. Cringe-worthy dialogue, hammy acting (save Baranski and Walters). Lily James, surprisingly, pulled a Gina Gershon and just did her own camp thing through her abysmal sections. Cher being Cher was also nice.

Incidentally, the crowd at the packed theatre earlier was mostly silent and people were muttering at the end. No one seemed to like it, let alone love it.

Did Bonnie Franklin make a cameo?

I washn't ashket to do a cameo! Shingle Ladiesh wash fabuloush!

Jennifer Saunders is brilliant. It's hard to believe that Meryl appreciated that parody. Dead on it was. Streep at 58 'singing' to Pierce Brosnan about their doomed love just makes me burst out laughing every time. She's so busy with business of the song I kept hoping she'd fall into the sea. She can't sing but she is an industrious lip syncher.

Still I have an 81 year old mother and I am taking her to see this fresh hell MMII on Friday. 15 minutes of Cher is hardly worth it and I will have to keep my snark to a minimum when it's over. At least we don't have to believe Streep is a young woman anymore now that she's dead!

I saw it today too, the audience went crazy for Cher. Lots of families mixed in with the queens and chubby frauen. Applause at the end.

I think the haters are fighting a losing battle to rail against it.

We hated it last time and it still made a skillion dollars. It's fine.

Besides, now that they have Cher my only comment is that Cher is a goddess.

[quote]Pierce Brosnan also queened it up, grabbing his younger self

Where did he grab him?

I heard that Brosnan's fat wife is now somewhat less fat. Is that true?

Never could stand ABBA. A$ if that matter$$$.

I can appreciate them as camp now but during the years they were popular I never liked them.

I don't think they were campy, they just got tax reductions to dress theatrically. (True) That fantastic wall of sound they created AND duplicated live was very impressive and most of the songs are great pop. The vocals sounded too good to be real but they were real. That's why it's disappointing to hear them sung so badly. Another song Meryl ruined is one of their late best. The Day Before You Came.

I think it's funny/ironic that critics and fans are critical of the film for casting 72yr old Cher as 69yr old Meryl Streep's mother. But the irony is - Meryl was miscast to begin with. She was always 20 years too old for the role. It should have been a 40 yr old actress, not a 60yr old, (although Meryl hadn't looked so young and beautiful in years).

And for me, the worst part about the first movie, (which was awful), was that Meryl's singing was lousy. And Meryl CAN sing! You just wouldn't know it from the soundtrack. She has no real feeling for pop, and the director had no clue how to use her voice.

You know who would have been perfect: Madonna!!! Really. Her age, her voice, the connection to the audience. And for Cher to play Madonna's mother? Again, think about it. It's kind of genius. It's really what they should have done.

Madonna can't draw flies to a theater. I'm not sure her acting is even good enough for MM- in fact, I know it isn't.

Plus, she looks like Cher's grandma.

Sorry R107, can we just back up to Madonna’s “connection to the audience”? WHAT connection to the audience?

Andy Garcia must’ve imagined a much better career for himself.

Andy wanted to do the movie.

I didn’t care for Evita but Madonna should have done more musicals.

I think Meryl will receive a supporting actress nomination at the next Oscars for her one scene.

I saw it and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. So now the important question....have the three young (unknown to me) actors ever shown peen?

R113=Chandler Massey

I think the NY Times review reveals something unintentional: Meryl Streep's reputation is built on media hype, not talent.

Not sure if Meryl should have walked the Red Carpet at the premiers if she is only doing a cameo? Unfair to viewers to some degree.

Why is it unfair if Meryl walks the red carpet? Plus, we got to see her kiss Cher.

Madonna would've drove audiences away. But yeah, she could have played Meryl's role. Actually she can play also Cher's role. They look about same age now.

Madonna is so unself-aware she would have wanted the Lily James role.

Of course the big elephant in the room is that Mandible Sourfart has a face people want to slap. And not one of these three rich daddies wants to pay $100 for a dna test?

I am not Glenn Close (really) but will somebody please explain the adoration for Meryl Streep? She is not beautiful. She is not funny. She does not have an interesting or colorful personality. I am all ears.

I tried and I tried and I TRIED to tell you people about that awful "click, click, click" woman, but did you listen? Noooooooooooo. Isn't that right, Spence-uh?

She’s a national treasure. She has won 3 Oscars and has a 100 nomination. She must be doing something right.

National treasures, unless they are sports heroes, are usually not the best at what they do. Mediocrity and false humility are their hallmarks and groupthink takes care of the rest. The amount of praise and reverence allotted to Streep is unfathomable and unwarranted.

Please, go and fuck yourself r124.

You have no idea of which you speak.

R, 125 apparently you're not such a National Treasure if you can't spell your own name.

Sophie's Choice was the thing that made her reputation as an actress.

And yet you knew who I was r126.

Fuck off all of you who "just don't know why anyone would think Meryl Streep was a good actress" because you are all full of shit.

Go watch The Deer Hunter, Kramer vs Kramer, Sophie's Choice, Doubt, One True Thing, Adaptation, even The Devil Wears Prada and The Post.

You may not like her, that's fine, but to say that she can't act is ridiculous.

Just came back from seeing it.

WHAT A FUN MOVIE!

The last half hour is amazeballs. The credits are so much fun.

^r130 is either a frau or a gay frau-wannabe, right down to "amazeballs."

Congrats, r130. You're the intended target for this movie, and they relieved you of your money and you're thrilled about it.

A DLer wrote that he saw the movie and enjoyed it. In this case, I'll take the DLer over the NYTimes.

Which proves you're dumb and you have no taste, r132. Congratulations?

The credits are GREAT, especially the very end which is obviously an outtake of the gay Greek immigration guy.

R131, no need to be a cunt. It has an 80 on Rotten Tomatoes with an 76% audience score. Obviously, most people like it.

In ten years will be Mamma Mia 3, with Nina as Sophie's daughter.

r135, the fact that "most people like it" should be a tip-off it's a piece of shit. But you like shit, so enjoy it. If being a cunt means knowing the difference between garbage and something good, I'll be a cunt, and you can be a dumb bitch.

"no need to be a cunt"

r135 seems to forget where she is. Amazeballs! This is Datalounge, stupid. Now go back to Rotten Tomatoes if you want the world to agree with you, you silly twat.

Rotten Tomatoes score are critics you ignorant piece of shit. And people hating something is how you pick your movies? You must see a lot of bad crap.

GREAT STELLAN SKARSGARD'S FAT MAKEUP!

THIS MOVIE SUCKED!

I don't understand how the first installment got trashed by the critics, but they love this one.

There are not enough great, ABBA songs left to sustain another movie. Meryl Streep's number was especially underwhelming and boring. They used all the good songs in the first show.

The direction was heavy-handed and cheesey. The broad, obnoxious dance moves of the chorus spoiled many a scene.

And there were a bunch of amateurish directing mistakes that distracted. There were extras looking into the camera and laughing. There were jarring places where the action shifted too fast for the music and the tones didn't match -- especially during the "Knowing Me, Knowing You" number.

During the scene in the barn where Lily James is singing to the horse, she closes the song by POKING THE HORSE IN THE EYE! WTF?

There's no way in hell they should have used that take. You can see the horse is injured. It's uncomfortable and disconcerting.

Were Cher and Christine Baranski wearing rubber masks? NOPE. THEY FUCKED UP THEIR FACES WITH BOTOX! It's too much, it looks fake and it's just sad.

Amanda Seyfried's skin or makeup was often horrible, too. She looked like a leathery, orange raccoon in some close-ups. Too much makeup? Too much sun damage? It was wrong.

The story was even thinner than the first movie, with no substantial drama or mystery. Just middling.

I liked the first one and I love ABBA's music. But this is just karaoke night with the stars and girlgasming.

The movie shortchanged Meryl Streep and us, it's true. She should have been involved more, even if the story involves her death. Make her a ghost or a flashback.

There are just too many characters singing boring songs without substantial drama.

r134 I didn't stay till the VERY end. What happened?

The bad singers, notably Pierce Brosnan, were either not given full songs (if singing solo) or else placed way down in the sound mix (if singing with a group).

Colin Firth has held up very well. I'd fuck him.

And Celia Imrie doing a bad turn as the Vice Chancellor was a lovely way to open the movie.

Loved her as Biff in Finding Your Feet.

It was almost Bergamanesque...

^^^Musicals can be.

[quote]The movie shortchanged Meryl Streep and us, it's true. She should have been involved more, even if the story involves her death. Make her a ghost or a flashback.

The way Meryl was used was perfect in my opinion. The last scene would have had far less impact if we had seen her even one time earlier. Say what you will about the rest of the movie being cheesy fluff but I thought that final scene was really moving.

r145 Agreed. And whether or not one is prepared to believe that that was Meryl's singing, there's no way one can deny that that was Meryl's phrasing, or at least that of a very intelligent, thoughtful, sensitive actress. (Let's just say Donna Murphy is good, but not that good.) That song has never been interpreted better.

Wow, there are some bitter nasty-likely alone-queens here on this thread.

A bunch of people like a film and a holier than thou bunch come on in as if they are the arbiters of taste.

Good on those who loved the film.

This review sums up the haters.

And the "critic" in the Onion "review" is yourself, r147. Enough said.

Hahahahahahahaha!

Fun fact-the gal playing the Japanese board member is now playing Lady Thiang opposite Ken Watanabe at the London Palladium.

The review bitches about the backstory we all knew already

[quote]when an obnoxiously blissed out 20-something Donna, who’s played by Lily James, sleeps her way around southern France and Greece, and does so immaculately, it must be said

Sounds like a summer I would have loved to have lived. I kinda did, but over a few summers and not in Greece, but in various locations including one in Europe. Just saying.

Well, Bill the Swede was a rebound fuck, wasn’t he?

Meryl Streep is in the movie and she's great.

Every man in this movie is sweetly fuckable, right down to the Asian daddy.

They should have used songs from ABBA knock-off groups A*Teens and STEPS.

They did lousy casting with Fernando’s brother, the old guy Christine Baranski’s character ended up with. They could have found someone sexy enough for her to give him THAT look. It just makes her out to be a golddigger.

r155 They should have just made Andy Garcia play twins. Problem solved.

From the New Yorker, haters...

I was disappointed Colin Firth's hot Greek boytoy from the first movie didn't come back. In fact there was no reference at all in this one that his character was gay. Weird they would neuter him in a movie with broad gay appeal.

Its not fucking Shakespeare, its a campy movie with shitty directing and camp songs. So, its a nice way to spend a couple of hours. I don't think it was as good as the first, and needed more star power. I don't know if they wrote the movie first and were only bringing Meryl back for the last scenes or Meryl said only a cameo, but it worked out how much she was in it and Cher. Yes, the first 2/3 of the movie struggled because it had not depth or star power. Lily did great, but no one can replace the first movie. Its camp, has cheesy songs, its supposed to be that way.

The three young guys were hot as hell

[quote]The three young guys were hot as hell

Agreed. If only they could have worked that line into a song.

Josh Dylan's dancing was like gay porn even though he was with a woman.

He looked like an extra from Querelle