Not Quite a Convert...

Those who know me, know for the better part of my life (roughly the first 25.5 years) I have had a heavy hate-on for ABBA. I lived by the motto "Better Dead than Disco". Ok, maybe I didn't live by it, but suffice it to say, I was not a fan. When we got out little budgie Peet, I was horrified to hear her start chirping and singing whenever ABBA would come on the radio (no accounting for taste).
So it will probably come as a surprise to those who know me to find out that I went to see Mamma Mia! last night.
Allow me to explain: I'm a sucker for musicals. I love any movie that I can sing along to the next morning in the shower. Perhaps even more powerful than my love of singing in the shower is the fact that deep down in my soul I truly wish I could spontaneously burst into song and have a troupe of highly talented dancers back me up in a perfectly choreographed routine during the most mundane points in my day.
So I went to the theatre (on cheap night, mind you) and soaked up the song and dance. It was definitely laugh out loud, but perhaps for the wrong reasons. At times I found myself deeply embarrassed for the characters, but at the same time loving that they were bordering on psychotic in their jubilation at basically everything that happened. Each time Meryl Streep sang, her voice reminded me strikingly of Susan Sarandon in the Rocky Horror Picture Show (a nice change from the average female singing voice). Poor Pierce Brosnan cannot sing to save his life. He tried, and I'll give him credit, but whoooo...it was a struggle. Occasionally he looked as though he was yawning through the lyrics. Colin Firth did a decent job on the vocals, but I was surprised to hear how high his singing voice was. I have a big soft spot for him though, and frankly he could have croaked out the tunes and I would still have felt as endeared towards him as ever. The storyline was fun, but I have to say, I was mortified by the way Donna (the mother) behaved. She reminded me of some of the ridiculous melodrama I could only pull off as a pubescent teen with a huge crush on my older brother's friends...and even that cost me some dignity.
I guess the bottom line is that it was catchy, fun, and I left humming some of the songs (and hating myself just a little for caving to the draw of ABBA). If you're looking for a chick flick...well, why not? But please, don't force your boyfriends to see this. They may never forgive you.