What to watch this week
Musical comedy. With Christine Baranski and Pierce Brosnan. 10-12PG D. Director: Ol Parker.
Sequels that kill off the first film’s main character rarely work – there’s usually a gaping hole at the centre of the movie where the star should be.
This is sadly what happens in this followup to the silly but enjoyable 2008 musical that had usually serious actors Meryl Streep, Colin Firth and Brosnan cavorting around Greece while warbling the best of Abba (or trying to, in Firth and Brosnan’s cases).
Yes, that’s right – Streep’s character, Donna, has been killed off a year before the events of Here We Go Again, leaving her daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), husband (Brosnan) and friends (Baranski and Julie Walters) devastated. Sophie is preparing for the grand reopening of her mom’s hotel but everything seems to be going wrong, from her partner, Sky (Dominic Cooper), breaking up with her to a giant storm brewing on the horizon.
In between there are flashbacks showing how Donna (Lily James) met and slept with the three men who’d all assume the role of Sophie’s dad.
James is vivacious and likeable and has a great voice but she’s surrounded by dull co-stars and her predictable story drags on, feeling like filler that can’t make up for Streep’s absence. What made the first film fun was seeing the older actors having a ball, but they have limited screen time and things come alive only in the last 30 minutes when Cher shows up.
Most of Abba’s best songs were also used in the first movie, and the B-sides sung here just don’t create the same energy. A disappointment.