Mamma Mia!Movie Reviews

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So-so
Avg. Critic Score: 51 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
13 OK for kids 13+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    The Hollywood Reporter | Ray Bennett

    It's a delightful piece of filmmaking with a marvelous cast topped by Meryl Streep in one of her smartest and most entertaining performances ever. Read full review

  • 75
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    The good-natured silliness is contagious. When Streep runs singing through a Greek village, it's like a spirited homage to "The Sound of Music." Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Mamma Mia! is fun, the music's terrific and the cast is appealing. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety |

    Scribe-creator Catherine Johnson (also in her first screen outing) and theater-opera vet Lloyd can't seem to find the right tone or style for their globally celebrated material. Read full review

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    It's tempting to say that Mamma Mia! has the worst choreography of any big-screen musical in history, though that would imply that what happens in the film IS choreography. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Ann Hornaday

    This is a movie guaranteed to please crowds, if only because it insists on their affection so strenuously. Read full review

  • 50
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Meryl Streep can do anything: sing, dance, do splits, act her heart out. She (almost) saves this clumsy, overwrought film version of the Abba musical that's been running on stages from Broadway to Barcelona since 1999. Read full review

  • 50
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    This movie wasn't made for me. It was made for the people who will love it, of which there may be a multitude. The stage musical has sold 30 million tickets, and I feel like the grouch at the party. Read full review

  • 50
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    You can have a perfectly nice time watching this spirited adaptation of the popular stage musical and, once the hangover wears off, acknowledge just how bad it is. Read full review

  • 50
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth Turan

    Though the filmmakers may have been imagining they were re-creating the old days of MGM musicals, it's the Village People's misguided "Can't Stop the Music" that comes to mind instead. Read full review

View more reviews for Mamma Mia! on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 13+ Upbeat, silly ABBA musical is flimsy but fun.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this lightweight, sun-kissed musical will likely appeal to the teen girls (and their moms) who make up much of the fan base of the Broadway musical it's based on. Language is quite tame overall ("ass" is about as strong as it gets), but sexual innuendoes do fly -- there are plenty in the ABBA song lyrics alone -- and one of the main characters is a woman who gets pregnant but doesn't know who her baby's father is. There's also a brief, non-sexual glimpse of a man's bare butt and a fair amount of drinking, but it's mostly in the context of everyone having fun on a Greek island, and it's all pretty social in nature.
  • Families can talk about who this movie is meant to appeal to -- older fans who've been listening to ABBA since they first hit it big, or younger folks who might be familiar with the Broadway show. Do musicals translate well to the big screen? What makes them successful (or not)? What messages does the movie send about relationships and marriage?
The good stuff
  • message true-1 Positive messages: Allusions to infidelity, abandonment, and sexual indiscretions. A daughter lies to her mother about inviting three men from her past to her wedding. Otherwise, truly earnest and warmhearted..
What to watch for
  • violence false-1 Violence: Men and women yell at each other about past disagreements and misunderstandings; a mother and daughter argue.
  • sex false3 Sex: Sexual innuendo in song lyrics and conversations (for example, a hand drill is waved around in a suggestive way to signal sexual intercourse). One character is very open about her cougar-like sensibilities, preying on a younger man -- and vice-versa. Lots of reminiscing about sexual escapades of the past. One scene shows a man's naked backside, though not in a sexual context. A sex toy is seen briefly during a dance sequence. A quick kiss between two men; one key character turns out to be gay.
  • language false-1 Language: Fairly tame, with a few uses of "ass," "crap," and "frickin'."
  • consumerism false-1 Consumerism: A few labels: Duke University T-shirt, logos for Greek taxis. And, of course, the entire movie helps promote ABBA songs (and also the Broadway musical the movie is based on).
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Lots of alcoholic libations, but they're only consumed in social settings. Some cigar smoking; references to weed.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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