Ohh, that was NIce!!! Really NICE.

Back from the movies... It was a long-standing date. With my ex-colleague, who enjoys musicals as much as I do. Her shift ended at three but she didn't get out in time for that showing, so we walked over to my square, to the Café Palermo, where she got fresh-made Sicilian ice cream, and I had corfee, and we just chatted about God and the world till it was time to go to the next showing. It was very nice.

Then we moseyed over to the cineplexx nearby, a very beautiful one, excellently conceived and carried out, and saw the ABBA musical, 'Mamma Mia!' I had always thought it was one of those horrendous revues with ABBA music. But nope.

It has a full story line, and puts the music into it, very naturally. So there is this mother, you see, and her daughter finds out shortly before her wedding that her mother had three affairs the summer she was conceived. So she invites all three possible fahters to her wedding. It begins the day before the event, and all arrive. Chaos ensues. Of course the daughter can't tell which of the three is her father, and she is trying to hide their prescence from her mother. Which doesn't work at all, of course, and from the get-go. It was very amusing. The mother has two wild women with whom she was in a band in her youth. One of them was Christiane Baranski, who can make me laugh tears, and can sing terrifically well.

Meryl Streep plays the mother. She has a very nice mezzo-soprano voice and was very, very impressive. Especially with 'The Winner Takes it All'. Raised the hair on my arms. Christiane Baranski had a show-stopping number. A clinging cabana boy she is with the night before, and wants more, which turns into 'Does Your Mother Know That You're Out'. (As in: not at home, chicky...) And she slaps him down. I was doubled over, laughing... If she doesn't get an Oscar nomination just for that turn, there is no justice in the world.

These are just first impressions. Pierce Brosnan should have refused his role. He's ok, but very thin voice. Otherwise: Lots of power, lots of energy, wonderful ideas in carrying out the choreography, not a minute of boredom, and of course, the music.

The Björn guy of ABBA, I don't know his last name, seemingly wrote two or three new songs for the musical I had never heard before. They were ballads, and beautifully done. It ends with a wedding, but not the one you expected. And an absolutely hilarious 'Take A Chance On Me' at the reception, and then a very quiet 'I Had A Dream'.

If you see it, don't leave then. The power ladies do two encores in 70's costumes, and it leaves you smiling broadly.

So yes, nothing heavy, but a hell of a good time if you grew up with that music. And Meryl Streep lights up any screen, it is uncanny. My brother hates her. All he saw was Kramer vs. Kramer, and she was so good, and it hit him so hard, am willing to bet he never saw anything with her in it again.

Sometimes you just NEED a 'feel-good' movie to take your mind off things for two hours, and that was soooooo nice.....

And fun to have someone to share it with.

Just sayin'....