Mamma Escape-a!
We recently had friends in town and the four of us escaped to see Mamma Mia! – the latest edition of this movie includes captions to the songs so you can sing along to all of your favorite Abba songs (who doesn’t love karaoke?). Clearly I am not the only one with fond memories of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (why didn’t they release the Priscilla Sing! edition?). As someone who grew up going to midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show in high school, I am waiting for them to add dancing and other interactive bits to the Mamma Sing! edition a la Rocky Horror. What would they call it? The Mamma Sing! Picture Show? Could I really be the only one who wants to get up and dance in the Voulez- Vous dance sequence?
As a faithful Pauline Kael fan, I’ve always loved reading film reviews and have always paid attention to them. I was a faithful fan of Janet Maslin, Caryn James, and Stephen Holden – until the new generation of New York Times film reviewers entered center stage. A. O. Scott (a NYT’s film reviewer) totally panned Mamma Mia!, (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/movies/18mamm.html) calling Meryl Streep’s performance the “worst performance of her career." Does “film" always have to be so serious, can’t we just enjoy pure escapist fare? We can all use a little escape now and then.