Mamma Mia! (Phyllida Lloyd, 2008)

Mamma Mia! (2008)There’s just no getting around the fact that ABBA’s music is infectious. The buoyant, synthesized pop ditties produced by the Swedish quartet in the late 1970s and early 1980s are lush, catchy, and instantly memorable, which is almost enough to disguise just how lousy this movie really is, from its paper-thin storyline to its bland characterizations to its random choreography that continually insists that goofy energy and wild abandon are enough (they’re not). Helmed by a theater director making an awkward film debut, Mamma Mia! is so haphazardly produced and coarse around the edges that it feels more like a rough cut than a finished product, and despite the insistent exclamation point at the end of the title, it’s not nearly as fun as it thinks it is. (Starplex 16, Waco, TX)