Swedish pop hit, turned internationally successful musical,
turned feature film “Mamma Mia!” comes to theaters this summer, hoping to
capitalize on the wave of recent song-and-dance blockbusters a la “Hairspray”
and “Rent.” But unlike its Broadway-born peers, “Mamma Mia!” looks to be
another “Across the Universe”-esque mistake — tolerable when the music fits the
script, but ultimately lame with ridiculous plot points written purely to fit a
song.

The recipe for mama’s rancid third course?
Soon-to-be-married Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) dreams only of having her father
walk her down the aisle. Unfortunately, her mother (Meryl Streep, if you can
believe it) was kind of loose, and Sophie’s parentage is thus unclear. Add two
parts ABBA and shake. The result doesn’t look good, but neither did the
ultra-popular musical, so if your Sweden-obsessed roommates drag you along, at
least potential fathers Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth make the visuals a
little more appetizing. July 18.