Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

From a purely objective standpoint, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a terrible movie. The plot is nonsensical, the characters are one-note clichés, and the song lyrics barely connect to the action. Yet, whenever the story stops taking itself seriously and gives in to the sheer silliness of being a jukebox musical based on some of the airiest pop songs ever written, it becomes infectious in spite of itself.

Providing the backstory to the earlier Mamma Mia! (2008), this prequel explains how Donna (Meryl Streep) managed to get into the situation of being unable to tell her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) which of three men is her father. In flashback, we see a young Donna (Cinderella’s lovely, likable Lily James) conduct whirlwind romances with three handsome lads who will eventually grow into Bill (Stellan Skarsgård), Harry (Colin Firth), and Sam (Pierce Brosnan). The part of those romances that might result in the creation of Sophie thankfully happens off-screen, so the PG-13 rating is due to what’s implied.

It would be giving the screenwriters too much credit to suggest there’s a sexual revolutionary agenda here. Really, Donna’s flings are just an expedient way of shoehorning a series of lovelorn ballads into dreamy montages of white sand and blue Aegean Sea. When characters who’ve known each other for only a week sing, “We just have to face it, this time we’re through,” it’s hard to feel invested in their pain.

But in between the hokey moments, this Mamma Mia! boasts the same campy appeal as its predecessor. Perhaps no other rock group in history was as adept as ABBA at crafting those earworms that can either plague or delight, depending on the mood of the listener. The same is true with the latest movie based on their music. If the first one had you singing along, this one will as well. Just don’t blame me if you can’t get “Fernando” out of your head.