Channel Awesome
Could this be the worst chick flick ever? Find out in this week’s Nostalgia Critic review on 2008’s Mamma Mia!
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Hmmm, digging the new intro
I dunno. I think it needs more Rob Paulsen.
I missed a certain evil laugh.
agreed.
That it is, that it is
That’s what I missed too
and more maurice
Yes. At least, no more constant screaming!
Idk, it kinda grew on me over time, now it just sounds weird that it isn’t there xD
Definately
yeah i hated the screaming
I couldn’t agree more. This intro is an improvement.
Me too but holy hell when was he in a cheerleader outfit? I missed that one!
The Christmas Story 2 review
Could you tell me where the clip of Critic getting punched through the YouTube comments is from? I think I missed that episode.
If I recall right it’s from the Avatar Episode the Critic did with Dante Bosco. I’m enterly sure though
I’m pretty sure that was one of the Avatar: The Last Airbender ones. (Either the “10 best” or “10 worst”, I’m not sure.)
It’s from the “10 best” one.
But you can’t watch that one without spoilers for the show.
I just want to say… Thank you, Doug. Thank you so much. I have been keep telling people what a big bucket of glitter horsshit is this movie and nooen took my side. Thank you.
So my mom watched this film and she is a fan of ABBA but she hated the film because the plot was awful and the music covers were bad. Just like you, she shut the film off when the women at the end started singing.
I never much cared for chick flicks but couldn’t really figure out why. I usually blamed romance but I’ve seen romantic films that I liked. I guess it’s the whole “everything is always ok lol” attitude that Doug addressed.
Yeah, I actually really like ABBA music (I think I just got my man card revoked…), but this is just shlock from start to finish. No conflict, no plot, no vocal ability…just NOTHING meaningful happens.
And the sad thing is, it didn’t have to be this way–ABBA wrote a lot of party songs, true, but they also have a lot of songs about pain and loss. They have a song where two veterans reminisce about a BATTLE in the war between Texas and Mexico–and it’s not obscure either on their greatest hits album. That story writes itself! Heck, even Momma Mia has undertones of cheating and distrust–Why didn’t they play THAT part of the song up!?!
Sure, when a girly pop song comes on the radio, sometimes, I leave it on! Cause dang it, top 40 hits are in the top 40 for a reason! They’re catchy!
Damn manotaurs
“Could this be the worst chick flick ever”…Well.. There’s still 50 Shades of Gray AKA how much abuse a woman can handle when the guy is filthy rich
In that film very little actually. The movie paints those that enjoy bdsm as if you have something wrong with you. There are much better movies that cover the subject. Secretary being a personal favourite of mine.
Seriously? Secretary is fucking awful, dude.
Most of the interactions between Lee and Mr. Grey are creepy as hell, the “relationship” doesn’t start with consent, just Grey taking a stab in the dark that Lee would be into it and getting lucky she doesn’t call the police for sexual harassment in the workplace, Lee replacing one harmful coping mechanism with another one, and then ends with Lee sitting in a chair and starving herself–not even moving to use the bathroom or get a drink–for three days while Mr. Grey just sits back and lets her do it.
Is THAT your idea of two healthy, mentally-well adults in a good BDSM relationship? If so, then you have no room to criticize 50 Shades, ’cause Secretary is certainly no better.
KJKington tone it down. different strokes for different folks
No for a good BDSM film there is …….. crap forgot the name
a Japanese one came out in the 90s.
I am at work right now and looking up Japanese bondage films on the company server is not a career move
Strangely watch cat videos is just fine
Wait, are you sure you’re not talking about 50 Shades of Grey there?
Cause it sounds exactly like the relationship between Anastasia Steel and Christian Grey. Seriously, even the names of the supposed “dommes” are the same.
Exactly, Junk. Secretary is no better than 50 Shades, and I’d even be willing to bet that the author took some direct inspiration from Secretary when they were writing it.
There might be some genuinely good representations of BDSM relationships in movies/books somewhere, but I can assure you that Secretary is not one of them.
KJKington, ever heard of the online comic ‘Sunstone’ by Stjepan Šejić, better known as Shiniez on Deviantart? If you’re looking for a good story about BDSM (and don’t mind nudity and lesbianism), you gotta check it out, seriously.
50 shades IS NOT an anywhere okay BDSM representation.
I’m sorry Secretary does have a better understanding of a bdsm relationship. The few things I know about 50 shades are plain stupid and even dangerous.
Yes the relationship starts with Mr. Grey “taking a stab in the dark”, that is weird and Lee could sue him OR just take off like the secretary before her. On her first day she saw a woman crying while leaving the office, that was because Mr. Grey tried the same stuff with her. So why am I defending this movie? Because they made clear that he has a problem, he said so himself, he likes BDSM and feels guilty about it. He doesn’t know how to handle himself, that’s why he said to Lee that he would stop and that’s why he fired her.
He is a troubled individual with a fetish who doesn’t know how to deal with it. Ms. Lee is a sheltered woman with her own issues, one of them being that she cuts herself. When Mr. Grey starts (by spanking her) she find that oddly enough she enjoys it, she gets off in the bathroom as consequence. That is why I like this movie, it’s not that she succumbs to his status, money or power, she finds out that she enjoys BDSM. More important, she likes BDSM with him.
[spoilers]
After being fired she tries to find another partner, a man who also enjoys BDSM, but she can’t. Why? Because she only finds a bunch of weirdos? Maybe, but mainly because she loves him and she loves doing BDSM with him. When she spends days sitting on his office there is nothing sexual about, she said so herself, she does it because she likes following orders, she likes following his orders. During these days we see Mr. Grey watching her, why? Because he cares about her, he loves her too and he doesn’t want to hurt her. That’s why he watches and watches and in the end he brings a milkshake to comfort her and later he bathes her with extreme care.
tl;dr = He admits he has a problem, he tries BDSM with her, she discover she likes it, they fall in love with each other while playing. There is no clear abuse like in “50 shades”.
At least it’s faithful to the source material in that regard?
and hot looking dont forget hot looking
holy dang NC should tackle 50 Shades of Grey, from the poor and bland acting to the artificial romance, I literally walked out of the cinema and no one cared about any of the main caracters, I personally didn’t care about those two, together or apart it was the same both characters were lifeless and uninteresting.
He said “chick flick”, not “Housewife porn”.
The Princess Bride is my favorite movie of all time! People my age and younger always think of Princess Diary when I say that. SMH.
I know… So do people I know.
funniest thing is…I was the kid :> I actually would have, if I wasn’t like 12 at the time would have walked out when I found out what it was called :> Funny enough it became one of my all time favorite movies.
so, you could of gotten the role that Fred Savage got?
I have no idea how the hell you could even call Princess Bride a chick flick after watching it. Its a classic medium fantasy setting of a movie. The only reference to it possibly being one is lampshaded by the boy’s whole “is this a *kissing* book?” line.
Not to mention, y’know.
“Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles”
Yeah, the romance is little more than the MacGuffin in the film. It provides the impetus for the hero’s actions, but is largely irrelevent.
(Highfive across cyberspace)
Inconceivable!
Did Doug really misspell massacre in the “The Squeeing idiot masacre” horror scene at the 5:10 mark? Well that’s ironic
https://allthetropes.orain.org/wiki/Irony
A few years back in one of his “Fuck Up’s” videos Doug admitted that he is a bad speller so you’ll find that that’s not all that uncommon for words in his videos to be misspelt.
… *Fuck ups. *Misspelled.
😛 Sorry. I couldn’t resist.
I don’t know what I was expecting when I clicked to watch the new review. I just thought it was going to be a regular Nostalgia Critic freak out, but I’ve been assaulted by one of the most painful things I’ve ever seen.
Now I can feel like the world is ending
… because the film was bad, or the review?
The commentary or the clips from the film?
I too am curious to what you mean
I thankfully never saw Mamma Mia, but my mother and sister have when it was out on video. Also, when it was released in theatres, I was more interested in certain films I would enjoy, like The Dark Knight.
I may not have a vagina, but to any women who may happen to read this comment, do any of you, or anyone you know, talk like the women in this film?
At least we got to see Colin Firth kick a lot of ass later on in Kingsman.
11:24- The Sex and the City franchise can go straight to Hell. The women are idiots, and the writers try make the men even worse.
Another reason why I’m not that into live-action musical films (unless they are animated or stylized) is that every once in a while, everyone on the set just happens to dance along with the main cast during a song.
Cutting to songs that have nothing to do with anything is very similar to the cutaway jokes in Family Guy, another franchise I’d like to see burn in Hell.
18:48- This is the reason why we never want to hear James Bond sing.
Thank you, Critic, for saying something POSITIVE about Moulin Rouge.
25:01- If I were to have see this movie in theatres, THIS is the moment I would leave, and I have never walked out of a movie in my life.
You ladies and bad movie lovers can keep this film, and I’ll stick with films that have more quality.
To answer your question from a female standpoint, yes. BARBIE talks like that.
And by the way, we women will trade you this for transformers…
Yeah I think you women have it rough. I have a sister who decided to never watch this movie based on Paw’s review (I need to show her this one now that I think about it). What does she like instead? Stallone movies and Superheroes!
BTW Why is it that if women and girls like butch stuff it’s fine but if a guy likes something like ‘My Little Pony’ he’s branded Gay?
First, I don’t think gay is necessarily the branding. But My Little Pony isn’t the same as a guy that likes chick flicks. It’s a show aimed at pre-adolescent girls.
Yeah, we do.
I actually have no idea. I know plenty of actually gay people who like stupidly masculine things, and my boyfriend actually ENJOYS My Little Pony and stupidly feminine things. I guess it’s a stereotype that stuck since the homophobes of the dawn of time.
Buddy, I LOVE bad movies but this? this is just…wow! i mean aside from that goofy ‘Lay your love on me’ scene with the guys frog dancing there is nothing here i would call entertaining! On behalf of the crowd of people who like watching The Room, Birdemic, Manos The Hands of Fate, Robot Monster and Plan 9 I call this movie garbage, any bad movie fans want to disagree?
BEST. COMMENT. EVER.
Thank you.
🙂
“And I’m James Bond, do not forget my name!”
Although, to be fair, he’s not the first James Bond to sing in a movie. That honor goes to Sean Connery in Darby O’Gill and the Little People. Of course, unlike Mr. Brosnan here, Sean was actually decent.
And putting on an Irish accent.
I actually think that the Singing was dubbed in the movie. But that’s actually not the first time PB sang in a movie. He also sings some old irish song in “Evelyn”
A+ comment good sir!
OMG Doug, I’ve never seen this movie, but I feel sorry that you had to sit through this for our entertainment. This shit looks fucking VILE.
I’ll just leave things with this quote from the AVGN movie:
“The suffering of one is pleasure to another.”
I watch both this and Paw’s video from last year so I’ve seen the movie ripped apart in two ways; As a Musical and as a Chick Flick.
I /doubly/ don’t want to see this film!
there we go people now you don’t have to complain about screams in the intro
Yay! No screams!
I kinda miss the screams. I hadn’t realized I had gotten used to them until they disappeared.
I like the video but Alexander was from macedon which became Macedonia all im saying, still good video
He was also the ruler of the Greek empire. Not sure I understand what your issue is.
Alexander the great was from an ancient Greek city state called Macedonia which is not the same as the modern day Macedonia which has only been in existence since it declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
Hehe… Never question your viewers’ loyaty, Doug…
Thank God. I can fucking comment again.
The guy on the piano is Benny Andersson from the original ABBA.
WHAT?!?!?!?!? One of the guys who wrote the music from Chess lowered himself to this catclysm?
The two ABBA guys had Tim Rice for that. This was just the two of them. I think we know what the deciding factor was.
Yes, it’s too bad Tim Rice couldn’t have gone on forever elevating the ABBA boys with his own unfailingly high artistic standards, but I think he was busy that week helping Disney and Elton John to improve Verdi’s Aïda.
(That was sarcasm, for those of you in the cheap seats.)
“One of”? More like both of them. Björn Ulvaeus shows up at the very end of the movie as one of the Greek gods.
really great review, But I’m not sure all these cliches aren’t linked to ‘Over the top musical’ rather than chick flick, When I went to see the movie in theatres (not out of my own choice..) the audience seemed like an equal balance of older men/women, it was basically a bunch of old hippies that were probably ABBA fans considering how they cheered at the end of the credits.
aha and there was ANOTHER song after the credits, waterloo. I’m surprised I remember it so vividly, it might have been awful, but it was at least memorable.
God… I’m only watching this because I’m sure Doug will make it worthwhile but I’m gonna need to watch something like Repo The Genetic Opera or something to wash the bad music out of my mouth… Blegh!
Muppet Treasure Island?
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Doctor Horrible’s Sing Along Blog. It’s surprisingly not horrible, not a blog, and doesn’t have anything you would expect from something titled “Sing Along”…. And the main guy isn’t even a doctor……. But still, the film’s on Youtube and Netflix and it’s actually a really good low-budget musical starring Neil Patrick Harris.
A new theme song! With no screaming! Yay!
If anyone wants to see a good musical with the music of ABBA take a look at Muriel’s Wedding. Small Australian film staring Toni Collette. Keep up the good work Doug.
You’re terrible, Muriel
I was thinking the same thing. I’m not going to say that Muriel’s Wedding is an excellent film, it’s pretty good for what it is though. At the very least it’s infinitely better than Mamma Mia.
I admit it. This film is a guilty pleasure for me. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a stupid movie. The story doesn’t make much sense, heck the premise is already…strange, given the fact that the first idea must have been “Let’s make an ABBA musical”. Like seriously, how do you get from a popular Swedish pop band to “wedding in Greece and a girl trying to find her real father”? And it’s not like I actually think “I wanna watch a movie…how about Mamma Mia?” But…my mom and my sister like it and if they watch it and I have nothing better to do, I sit down and watch it with them. It’s a brainless feel-good movie with catchy music. I can enjoy it.
Doesn’t the fact you just admitted you have to switch your brain off to enjoy this film disturb you?
It’s a figure of speech. Not everything has to stimulate your brain and challenge your perception of reality all the time. Sometimes you just wanna relax and listen to some catchy tunes. I also enjoy Rocky Horror, which is an absolutely brainless movie. And a fucking cult classic. Yeah, it was intentionally bad. But it’s still bad. Or The Room. Also a wonderfully entertaining movie. And also bad. Unintentionally.
…you do know what the term “guilty pleasure” means, right?
Oooohhhh, That’s what you meant. I too have a ‘Guilt Pleasure’: Frank Miller’s The Spirit.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie for me if we are naming off our Guilty Pleasure movies. XD
Dough, watch the dutch version A.K.A. the origional made with the musical cast that started this thing. Yes i know blame the dutch we sell anything to anyone which ussually leads to crap or sell outs like this 😉
Eh, ABBA are an alright band, my parents used to play them to me when I was little so the songs are in a way, nostalgic for me. However, this film seems god awful and I do not plan to see it after this review..
Want a tolerable movie with ABBA music. Muriel’s Wedding, it does follow a few of the genre tropes, but the characters are more interesting and they actually deal with a few struggles. The main character actually learns a lesson or two even. There’s even several ABBA songs in the movie, but it’s not overwhelming.
Yeah. Worst movie ever but good music
I like ABBA too!
It’s bad, but if this is what you consider the worst film ever then you’re REALLLYYY freaking lucky. Good gosh, there are some crappy films out there that are so much worse than this.
If you’re saying that over Mamma Mia, I can only expect to die of laughing too hard over what you’re going to say over 50 Shades of Grey.
The Å in Stellan Skarsgårds name is pronounced like the O in boring…
I like this movie… but I am willing to admit it’s pure fluff, like saccharine cotton candy. Too much cotton candy is bad for you, but once in a while you get in the mood for it. 😛
I must admit, the “return to original form” of NC in front of the white wall, screaming at us, was a bit of a nice change after Matrix Month and the big storyline that went through it.
Not to say that I don’t like the storyline episodes. They’re hilarious. But sometimes it’s nice to have a “simple” review.
Though I’m guessing the “making of” video won’t come out for this one. Not really much to see. 😛
It’ll be an hour of Malcolm, Tamarac and Rob in the lounge room area cracking jokes for 60 minutes.
“It’ll be an hour of x…for 60 minutes!” YOU DON’T SAY?
Yeah, this was a nice change of pace. I like the reviews NC has given us since he decided to end his retirement, but the sketches were the one thing I had trouble getting used to as I’ve always found the sketches long and distracting and now he’s making them even longer and more distracting than they used to be, so it’s nice to see a straight-up review where he kept the sketches down to a minimum.
IDK, I’ve personally enjoyed the sketches quite a bit. They do take the focus away from the review sometimes, but at the same time stuff like what he did with his Devil review really helped the video as a whole in my opinion. I guess the best way to put it is they’re nice when they exist to further the review instead of something like the Shining review where the review is pretty much just there for the sake of the sketch.
On your question on how to pronounce Skarsgård: The “other o” means that the a is in fact an å which is pronounced like the A in War. A combination of a and o so to speak. Therefore the little ring.
I know it was a joke. But if someone’s curious, that’s how you pronounce it.
Is it just me, or was the ending suggesting Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas? I’m still holding out for a NC review for it, from what “Team Snob” said about it, It really needs to be taken on by the Walker Brothers.
So it’s rated E for Everyone X 9?
Its musicals like these that makes me want to refrain from this entire genre
Please don’t judge all of musicals on this because…You’re really missing out! Sure Phantom (which I adore) has it’s fluffy moments but what about Repo? Devil’s Carnival? Stage Fright? Sweeney Todd? Godspell? Dancer in the friggin Dark?! Even some of the less serious ones like Pirates of Penzance (my favourite movie of all time) can be creative. In Pirates of Penzance you find yourself laughing hysterically at the slapstick, the verbal humour and the sheer wit.
Sure this genre is hard to get right, Moulin Rouge and The Pirate Movie are testiment to that but if you ever think that this genre is worthless and fluffy go watch Sweeney Todd.
The film of Pirates of Penzance?! I love the stage show (I’ve been Frederick and the Pirate King, and in choruses since I was 12) but that film is just bad. Occasionally enjoyably bad (Kevin Kline is the best thing in it, but that’s because he’s usually distracting from everything else the movie’s doing), but it’s still not one I’d recommend, at least to anyone planning to watch it sober. In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing a NC review of that thing…
My top choice for musical: Oliver! The film rather than the stage show (the film manages to improve exponentially on the secondary source material), using the songs from the show to spectacular effect to bring out the characters and the story. It nails the drama every time, while still having its lighter sequences (and remaining probably the benchmark for choreography in a live action film – why else would Consider Yourself and Who Will Buy be so heavily imitated?).
Bad? Why? What aspects of that movie would you consider bad? Did you miss all the slapstick? The verbal wit? The little comedic touches here and there? The fantastic writing? The stellar performances? The dance numbers? The terrifice music? The top notch singing? Did any of this slip your notice by any chance?
If you’re still convinced it’s a bad film then get a couple of friends together and actually try and sing ‘The Matter Patter’.
I do agree that Oliver! Is pretty good and that’s even putting aside my Oliver Reed fandom. Well performed, well sung, well danced, heartful at times, well designed, an all around good film. I don’t like Oliver himself all that much because he has the personality and backbone of a dead slug but that’s a problem I have with the book too.
Do we at least agree that Sweeney Todd is a masterpiece?
I’m kinda wondering which Pirates film he saw, honestly, the 73 film or the 83 one? Or maybe he watched the 2006 one. The only one I’ve seen in the 1983 version and I thought that one was really good.
To answer slashmaster28’s question (I can’t reply to him directly for some reason) since Guywhothinksstuff mentions Kevin Kline there are only two possibilities there is the 1983 movie or there is a 1980 production that looks like it was a recording of a Broadway show (and had the same director and some cast like Kline the same but no Angela Lansbury as Ruth, so presumably the earlier Broadway production is the basis for the 1983 movie).
It has been a long time since I saw the 1983 movie but I seem to remember it was very energetic but otherwise standard production of the play, so I don’t quite get what gwts objection could be.