By
Steve Herte
Mama
Mia! Here We Go Again (Universal, 2018 –
Director: Ol Parker. Writers: Ol Parker (s/p & story), Richard
Curtis & Catherine Johnson (story). Stars: Lily James, Amanda
Seyfried, Dominic Cooper, Meryl Streep, Cher, Julie Walters,
Christine Baranski & Pierce Brosnan. Color, Rated PG-13, 114
minutes.
It’s a sequel!
It’s a prequel! Wait! You’re both right. Not only that, it’s
much better constructed than the 2008 original and a 10-times better
musical than La La Land. This time the writers and
the soundtrack team took only ABBA songs that actually fit the story.
It’s not cobbled together like the first movie. I was very
impressed. They found at least five songs I’ve never heard before
and they worked perfectly in their slots in the plot.
In the sequel aspect
Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried), daughter of the now-deceased Donna
Sheridan-Carmichael (Meryl Streep) is a young woman engaged to Sky
(Dominic Cooper) a young businessman in New York. Sophie is planning
a grand opening for her Hotel Bella Donna (no relation to the drug,
it’s dedicated to her mother) somewhere in the Grecian Isles.
Sam Carmichael
(Pierce Brosnan), who eventually married Donna in the first film is
helping her while still mourning Donna’s passing. The main force
behind the management of the hotel and staff is Fernando Cienfuegos
(Andy Garcia) and he also serves as a Dutch uncle and source of
encouragement to Sophie. Think of him as Jiminy Cricket to Pinocchio,
only with a deeper voice. The remaining members of the group Donna
and the Dynamos, Tanya Chesham-Leigh (Christine Baranski) and Rosie
Mulligan (Julie Walters) also arrive to join in the celebration.
Sophie’s other two “fathers”, Harry Bright (Colin Firth) and
Bill Anderson (Stellan Skarsgård) are seriously delayed by
appointments and business deals.
The prequel aspect
lies in the flashbacks, which can be confusing at times. They tell
the story of how Young Donna (Lily James) became involved with three
men; Sam (Jeremy Irvine), Bill (Josh Dylan) and Harry (Hugh Skinner),
while trying get her singing group started with Tanya (Jessica Keenan
Wynn) and Rosie (Alexa Davies). I say confusing because Lily James is
almost a perfect double for Seyfried (excellent casting!) and it made
adapting to the new time set difficult until someone called her Donna
and not Sophie. This part of the movie takes the audience from
flirtations to pregnancy, to the Sophie’s birth.
Adult Sophie sends
out the invitations in the beginning and decides to tear up the one
for her grandmother, Ruby Sheridan (Cher). But after all the trials
and tribulations of a severe storm wrecking the opening decorations
and Bill and Harry’s triumphant arrival, Ruby shows up anyway.
After all, who better than Cher to sing the only hit song missing
from the first movie, only to be the sole “cobbled in” song in
this movie, “Fernando.” Appropriately, she sings it to Andy
Garcia.
Those of you who
love musicals know that whenever a song begins, soon the whole town
or whoever is in the scene sing along in joyous harmony. You can
expect that here as well. What I loved in particular was that the
orchestration and the singing were superbly comparable to the ABBA
originals. That could be a result of Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny
Andersson (the two male members of ABBA and the songwriters)
collaborating with the production. They also showed up in cameos as
an Oxford professor (Bjorn) and a piano player (Benny) in the
“Waterloo” scene.
The humor sprinkled
throughout the film is artfully, and sometimes almost lewdly done.
Most of the great lines were given to Tanya, who said upon first
meeting Fernando, “Have him washed down and brought to my tent.”
Then later on first seeing Sky, “I just want to be upfront and say
that I visually enjoy you.” She was disappointed upon learning that
Fernando and Ruby were an item previously but she finally got what
she wanted when Fernando’s brother (Jonathan Goldsmith) shows up
toward the end of the film.
If you don’t like
ABBA’s style of music, by all means, skip this movie. But if you’re
a fan, it’s a feel-good kind of film, full of hope and love.
Rating: 4 1/2 out
of 5 martini glasses.
Tir na nOg
254 West
31st Street (8th Avenue)
New York
This “Land of the
Young” (in Gaelic) has only been open for two years but the name
and the Times Square location (14 years) have graced New York streets
for much longer. When I first dined there, the menu was entirely
Irish comfort food and was superior to any I’ve had since.
Would it be as good
this visit?
The bartenders are
truly mixologists. My two favorites currently are the Botanist Bay’s
basil-y gin cocktail and the Smoke Before Fire’s genuinely smoky
mescal potion. I’m planning on trying all of their specialty drinks
on subsequent visits.
An appetizer well
worth trying is the Warm Bavarian Pretzel with grain mustard,
horseradish cheese, and beer cheese. Though not shaped like the
original, twisted pretzels, these are fat, decadently soft, lightly
salted delights that will have you arguing with yourself which of the
three toppings is best, or whether they’re better unadorned. An
appetizer for those who are not hungry enough for a main course is
the Poutine – French fries, beer cheese, stout gravy, mozzarella
cheese, and bacon. If you think these ingredients don’t go
together, think again. This dish will fill you up with a wonderland
of flavors. The potatoes are spiral cut thickly and you’ll probably
have to use a knife. You may want to linger over this dish, but try
to eat it while it’s hot.
The soup was Carrot
Ginger Soup, a remarkably smooth carrot purée served hot, with just
enough ginger to make it exotic.
My main course was
the Braised Short Ribs nested in Wasabi mashed potatoes, with glazed
root vegetables, and in a thyme infused garlic jus. This dish
definitely has the “WOW!” factor. The tender, cut-with-a fork
meat was almost blackened with the piquant gravy and the mashed
potatoes, superb! I’m not a fan of mashed potatoes but these I
finished.
One of these days
I’ll have to moderate my food intake at Tir Na nOg enough to try
one of their desserts. Trust me, the portions are substantial. Come
hungry. The entire staff is friendly and will go out of their
way to make you feel at home. I’ve already listed this “pub” as
one of my “Ahhh!” places.
For the Dinner and a Movie archive, click here.
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