Mamma Mia! (2008)

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Wikidata Q188850, film, IMDb tt0795421, TMDB 11631: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only film by that title; 5 more episodes agree.

What a model would be handed about it, for corpus:ask.

In the store as #543, Mamma Mia! (2008).

Who talked about it

Blank Check with Griffin & David

The Big Picture

Came from

What the speakers say it drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

ABBA: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (lineage): ABBA ⇒ Mamma Mia! (the host's read). The film is aesthetically and spiritually in tune with ABBA's incandescent, inescapable and stupid songs.
    “It is a film that is very, like aesthetically and spiritually in tune with its source material, being the, like, incandescent, inescapable, wonderful, and also really stupid songs of ABBA.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:52:57 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)

West Side Story: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. craft (craft): West Side Story ⇒ Mamma Mia! (the host's read). In Dancing Queen, Baranski and Streep's chiffon skirts allow one Jerome Robbins-style moment that echoes West Side Story.
    “they do like one Jerome Robbins, like, uh, sachet moment.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:17:19 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Led to

What the speakers say drew on it, marked the same way.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (lineage): Mamma Mia! ⇒ Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (the host's read). The sequel is both prequel and sequel, with Lily James as young Donna in Donna and the Dynamos.
    “can I tell you it's both a prequel and a sequel?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:35:44 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

Connected to

The Strangers: 4 lines theme ×2 contrast ×1 people ×1

  1. contrast (contrast): Mamma Mia! → The Strangers. Sean sets the loose, wander-around-and-pour-wine viewing of Mamma Mia against the locked-in, what-will-happen-to-them viewing of The Strangers.
    “I contrast that with the strangers where I was like sitting in a movie again for 79 minutes, like what is going to happen to these people?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:57:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again: 3 lines people ×1 verdict ×1 lineage ×1

  1. verdict (verdict): Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again → Mamma Mia!. Letterboxd consensus says the first film stinks but the sequel is like crack, with Fernando used breathtakingly.
    “Everybody on Letterbox was like, this movie actually stinks, but 2 is like crack, like it's so good.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:25:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

West Side Story: 2 lines contrast ×1 craft ×1

  1. contrast (contrast): West Side Story → Mamma Mia!. Spielberg's West Side Story is a modern movie musical that works because it adapts an older musical, unlike the modern-musical style Sean dislikes.
    “West Side Story, Spielberg's film. I think that's one of the best movie musicals of the last 50 years.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:04:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Wicked: 2 lines industry ×1 contrast ×1

  1. contrast (contrast): Mamma Mia! → Wicked. Mamma Mia's loose ABBA karaoke feel contrasts with modern stage-derived musicals like Wicked, whose songs and performative choreography Sean dislikes.
    “Like wicked, there were a lot of people posing in the background and it just took me out every single time.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:16:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

ABBA: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (lineage): Mamma Mia! → ABBA. The film is aesthetically and spiritually in tune with ABBA's incandescent, inescapable and stupid songs.
    “It is a film that is very, like aesthetically and spiritually in tune with its source material, being the, like, incandescent, inescapable, wonderful, and also really stupid songs of ABBA.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:52:57 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)

Bergman Island: 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (craft): Mamma Mia! → Bergman Island. Bergman Island also uses The Winner Takes It All, which Sean ranks as the second-greatest use of the song.
    “I told you at the time, the 2nd greatest use of the winner takes it all ever.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:11:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Bohemian Rhapsody: 1 line industry ×1

  1. industry (industry): Mamma Mia! → Bohemian Rhapsody. Both succeed because audiences want to hear beloved band songs in a theater, but Mamma Mia has a sense of humor a biopic lacks.
    “Bohemian Rhapsody was so successful because of the songs and because of this, you know, portrayal of this band who we have a big relationship to.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:26:44 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Les Misérables: 1 line career ×1

  1. career (career): Mamma Mia! → Les Misérables. Mamma Mia and Les Mis are Seyfried's core work that Sean had not seen.
    “And you have just not seen any of her core work, including, but Mama Mia and Les Misera.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:16:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

Meryl Streep: 1 line career ×1

  1. career (career run): Meryl Streep → Mamma Mia!. Ricki is the end of Streep's run as a lead in studio comedies, which began with Mamma Mia and the Devil Wears Prada.
    “this is also kind of the end of the Merrill leading lady studio comedy run”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:20:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Michael: 1 line contrast ×1

  1. contrast (contrast): Mamma Mia! → Michael. The upcoming Michael biopic is expected to lack the humor of Mamma Mia's lighter use of music.
    “Michael is gonna be, it's not gonna have any of the sense of humor.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:26:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Phyllida Lloyd: 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (craft): Mamma Mia! → Phyllida Lloyd. A celebrated theater director made poor camera choices; the speaker says it is some of the worst direction they've seen.
    “The actual direction of the film is some of the worst I've ever seen.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:54:46 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

Pierce Brosnan: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (people): Mamma Mia! → Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgard are icons in Ireland, England and Sweden, which the speaker offers as one reason the film was so huge in the UK.
    “you've got an Irish, English and Swedish, like kind of icon.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:07:41 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Sense and Sensibility: 1 line verdict ×1

  1. verdict (verdict): Mamma Mia! → Sense and Sensibility. Mamma Mia is not as important to Amanda as Sense and Sensibility or Four Weddings, but is pop-culturally significant.
    “Is it as important to me as Sense and Sensibility or for weddings in a funeral or the, you know, any of those. No.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:17:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

Shrek: 1 line programming ×1

  1. programming (programming): Mamma Mia! → Shrek. Reflecting on their movie swaps, Sean ties Shrek, the earlier one-way swap, to Bobby Wagner's last episode.
    “Bob's last episode was like a one-way movie swap, which was Shrek.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:13:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

The Dark Knight: 1 line industry ×1

  1. industry (industry): Mamma Mia! → The Dark Knight. In 2008, a year dominated by The Dark Knight and Iron Man, Mamma Mia still became a global phenomenon.
    “it was the Dark Knight and Iron Man year”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:09:09 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: 1 line theme ×1

  1. theme (theme): Mamma Mia! → The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The older characters' drag-like performances make Mamma Mia like Rocky Horror for people who go to full-service resorts.
    “it's like rocky horror picture show for people who like to go to, like, Cabo to all, like, to, you know, um, full service resorts”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:22:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Twilight: 1 line what-if ×1

  1. what-if (what-if): Mamma Mia! → Twilight. Adding vampires to Mamma Mia would have gotten Sean to see it in theaters, and could solve Mamma Mia 3's casting issues.
    “You know what would have gotten me to go see Mama Me in theaters, putting vampires in it.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:09:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Where it came up

What was said about it, by kind

career (2)

  1. career (career run): Meryl Streep → Mamma Mia!. Ricki is the end of Streep's run as a lead in studio comedies, which began with Mamma Mia and the Devil Wears Prada.
    “this is also kind of the end of the Merrill leading lady studio comedy run”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Ricki and the Flash with Bobby Finger & Lindsey Weber · 0:20:45 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. career (career): Mamma Mia! → Les Misérables. Mamma Mia and Les Mis are Seyfried's core work that Sean had not seen.
    “And you have just not seen any of her core work, including, but Mama Mia and Les Misera.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:16:51 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

contrast (4)

  1. contrast (contrast): Mamma Mia! → The Strangers. Sean sets the loose, wander-around-and-pour-wine viewing of Mamma Mia against the locked-in, what-will-happen-to-them viewing of The Strangers.
    “I contrast that with the strangers where I was like sitting in a movie again for 79 minutes, like what is going to happen to these people?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:57:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  2. contrast (contrast): West Side Story → Mamma Mia!. Spielberg's West Side Story is a modern movie musical that works because it adapts an older musical, unlike the modern-musical style Sean dislikes.
    “West Side Story, Spielberg's film. I think that's one of the best movie musicals of the last 50 years.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:04:50 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. contrast (contrast): Mamma Mia! → Wicked. Mamma Mia's loose ABBA karaoke feel contrasts with modern stage-derived musicals like Wicked, whose songs and performative choreography Sean dislikes.
    “Like wicked, there were a lot of people posing in the background and it just took me out every single time.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:16:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  4. contrast (contrast): Mamma Mia! → Michael. The upcoming Michael biopic is expected to lack the humor of Mamma Mia's lighter use of music.
    “Michael is gonna be, it's not gonna have any of the sense of humor.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:26:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

craft (3)

  1. craft (craft): Mamma Mia! → Phyllida Lloyd. A celebrated theater director made poor camera choices; the speaker says it is some of the worst direction they've seen.
    “The actual direction of the film is some of the worst I've ever seen.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:54:46 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft): Mamma Mia! → Bergman Island. Bergman Island also uses The Winner Takes It All, which Sean ranks as the second-greatest use of the song.
    “I told you at the time, the 2nd greatest use of the winner takes it all ever.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:11:35 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. craft (craft): Mamma Mia! → West Side Story. In Dancing Queen, Baranski and Streep's chiffon skirts allow one Jerome Robbins-style moment that echoes West Side Story.
    “they do like one Jerome Robbins, like, uh, sachet moment.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:17:19 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

industry (3)

  1. industry (industry): Mamma Mia! → Wicked. Excluding Disney animation and adaptations, Mamma Mia is the third highest-grossing movie musical behind Wicked and Wonka.
    “this is the 3rd highest grossing movie musical and the history of movies behind Wicked and Wonka, which only just came out in the last 2 years.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:08:09 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. industry (industry): Mamma Mia! → The Dark Knight. In 2008, a year dominated by The Dark Knight and Iron Man, Mamma Mia still became a global phenomenon.
    “it was the Dark Knight and Iron Man year”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:09:09 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. industry (industry): Mamma Mia! → Bohemian Rhapsody. Both succeed because audiences want to hear beloved band songs in a theater, but Mamma Mia has a sense of humor a biopic lacks.
    “Bohemian Rhapsody was so successful because of the songs and because of this, you know, portrayal of this band who we have a big relationship to.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:26:44 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

lineage (2)

  1. lineage (lineage): Mamma Mia! → ABBA. The film is aesthetically and spiritually in tune with ABBA's incandescent, inescapable and stupid songs.
    “It is a film that is very, like aesthetically and spiritually in tune with its source material, being the, like, incandescent, inescapable, wonderful, and also really stupid songs of ABBA.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:52:57 · Amanda Dobbins (0.80 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage): Mamma Mia! → Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. The sequel is both prequel and sequel, with Lily James as young Donna in Donna and the Dynamos.
    “can I tell you it's both a prequel and a sequel?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:35:44 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)

people (3)

  1. people (people): Mamma Mia! → Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Director Lloyd was replaced on the sequel by Ol Parker, which the speaker thinks was for a reason.
    “Which is an important thing because she very clearly was replaced for a reason.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:55:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. people (people): The Strangers → Mamma Mia!. Both are 2008 films framed around a wedding and a daughter or couple at a wedding crossroads, and the hosts tie both to the marriage-skepticism joke.
    “Are you, and again, this gets back to like our, should we be getting married?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:59:49 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. people (people): Mamma Mia! → Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgard are icons in Ireland, England and Sweden, which the speaker offers as one reason the film was so huge in the UK.
    “you've got an Irish, English and Swedish, like kind of icon.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:07:41 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

programming (1)

  1. programming (programming): Mamma Mia! → Shrek. Reflecting on their movie swaps, Sean ties Shrek, the earlier one-way swap, to Bobby Wagner's last episode.
    “Bob's last episode was like a one-way movie swap, which was Shrek.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:13:57 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)

theme (3)

  1. theme (theme): The Strangers → Mamma Mia!. Amanda argues the two 2008 films share a theme of knowing thyself and what can't be known; later both end by withholding the answer.
    “And I would, I'll argue, has some things in common with Mama Mia.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:02:42 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. theme (theme): Mamma Mia! → The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The older characters' drag-like performances make Mamma Mia like Rocky Horror for people who go to full-service resorts.
    “it's like rocky horror picture show for people who like to go to, like, Cabo to all, like, to, you know, um, full service resorts”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:22:55 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. theme (theme): Mamma Mia! → The Strangers. Mamma Mia, by never confirming the father, honors not-knowing the way The Strangers does, which Amanda says gives it more nerve.
    “This movie understands that the greatest fear and the greatest power lies in not knowing.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:29:03 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)

verdict (2)

  1. verdict (verdict): Mamma Mia! → Sense and Sensibility. Mamma Mia is not as important to Amanda as Sense and Sensibility or Four Weddings, but is pop-culturally significant.
    “Is it as important to me as Sense and Sensibility or for weddings in a funeral or the, you know, any of those. No.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:17:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. verdict (verdict): Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again → Mamma Mia!. Letterboxd consensus says the first film stinks but the sequel is like crack, with Fernando used breathtakingly.
    “Everybody on Letterbox was like, this movie actually stinks, but 2 is like crack, like it's so good.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:25:43 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)

what-if (1)

  1. what-if (what-if): Mamma Mia! → Twilight. Adding vampires to Mamma Mia would have gotten Sean to see it in theaters, and could solve Mamma Mia 3's casting issues.
    “You know what would have gotten me to go see Mama Me in theaters, putting vampires in it.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:09:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Fun items about it

  1. fun, about Mamma Mia!: Sean watched Mamma Mia with Eileen and Alice in a 4:30-to-6:18 window between Lincoln and moderating a One Battle After Another event at Warner Brothers.
    “I can watch Mamma Mia from 430 to 618, and then I got to drive to Warner Brothers to go to moderate a conversation for one battle after another.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:56:26 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Mamma Mia!: It squeezes 23 songs into a 1 hour 42 minute movie.
    “23 songs, they squeeze into this one hour and 42 minutes movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:01:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Mamma Mia!: The cast treated it like a vacation in Greece, slightly sunburnt and unglamorous, which Sean finds charming.
    “everybody's a little sunburnt, and it does kind of feel like they've had a couple of glasses of wine while performing”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:03:12 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Mamma Mia!: It made $610 million worldwide, $144 million domestic, and was huge in the UK.
    “this movie has made $610 million worldwide at the box office.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:07:15 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Mamma Mia!: Meryl Streep singing The Winner Takes It All at Pierce Brosnan on a cliff is a favorite scene, with Brosnan looking confused.
    “Pierce Brosan just stands there looking confused.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:10:27 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Mamma Mia!: Sean notes the end credits, with the cast in full 70s disco gear singing Waterloo, may be the film's high point.
    “arguably the highest point of the movie is the credit sequence when they've stripped away all pretense of trying to tell a story.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:24:44 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Mamma Mia!: Mamma Mia remake game: Rihanna in Barbados.
    “if we're doing Rihanna, then you do Barbados, right?”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:28:33 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Mamma Mia!: The who's-the-father debate: Sean and Amanda both pick Pierce Brosnan; the director and screenwriter reportedly say Stellan Skarsgard, and Amanda offers a diary-order ovulation argument for the middle man.
    “the middle person is going to be the closest to ovulation.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 1:33:56 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

Who the speakers said made it

As said on the shows, not checked against the real credits.