I recently saw, Mama Mia!, that Meryl Streep movie based on the Broadway musical based on Abba songs. I know. Very odd. And so was the movie. I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Sure, I laughed, I cried--but I also winced every time Pierce Brosnan opened his mouth to sing. Surely they could have cast a different aging movie star who had some singing chops. Listening to Pierce sing was worse than fingernails on a chalkboard, and I say that with the greatest respect. The first time he sang, mutters of disbelief spread through the auditorium. On subsequent songs there were groans of despair. Surely that was not the effect the producers were going for.
I know what it's like to sing badly. I had an atrocious musical audition where I had to start over 3 times; I am still so mortified I'm not sure I can ever audition again. But I'm not a professional. I don't get paid for this. The directors of my musical had the good sense not to cast me; where was the good sense on Mama Mia!?
The only thing that made Brosnan's singing remotely bearable was his total commitment to the process. For those of you watching, So You Think You Can Dance, you know the judges are very into "commitment", and "honesty" and the "believability" of the performance. Well, Brosnan sang with passion and commitment, like he knew he was the best Broadway star of the day. I admired that about him, I really did, but in the end I wasn't sure if he was demonstrating acting chops or simply massive self-delusion.
The movie as a whole was like most musicals--a thin plot with people breaking into song at odd moments. The difference between the movie and the Broadway show is that most of the movie stars didn't sing as well as Broadway stars. Plus, I don't think any production works when it's trying to be both sincere and a parody. You've got to pick one and run with it, people. You either laugh with them or at them; you can't do both without feeling like you need a shower to wash away the icky feeling it leaves you with.
So, I hear Roper is leaving Ebert and Roper At The Movies. Maybe that should be my next gig, since everyone knows critics are merely frustrated artists. Maybe my snarkiness is not a measure of my good taste but a cry for help. Go see the movie and you decide. I'll await my call from Mr. Ebert.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I don't plan to see the movie -- I watched a few clips on the internet and quickly felt queasy. I don't want to remember Meryl Streep that way. I checked the "Quincera" DVD out of the library -- an entertaining potboiler with some good acting in my humble, uninformed opinion. It was a banner day at the library -- I also found Steve Lopez's (he's a columnist for the LA Times) The Soloist about his experience befriending a schizophrenic Juillard drop out who he met on skid row. I found parts of it quite moving and I'm a sucker for anything about the redemptive power of music. I believe The Soloist will be coming out as a movie. I'm just reading a review of Mama Mia! in this week's New Yorker and we aren't alone in our opinion. And I quote Anthony Lane, "I thought that Pierce Brosnan had been dragged to the edge of endurance by North Korean sadists in his final Bond film, 'Die Another Day,' but that was a quick tickle with a feather duster compared with the agony of singing Abba's 'SOS' to Meryl Streep through a kitchen window....There is no delicate way of putting this but anyone watching Brosnan in mid-delivery will conclude that he has recently suffered from a series of complex digestive problems, and that the camera has, with unfortunate timing, caught him when he is finally working them out. What has he done to deserve this?" Reporting from the land of the Feast of the Lanterns, SJD
Don't you just love the library?! Thanks for the great Times quote about Brosnan--poor man. He'll never live this down.
Post a Comment