Mamma Mia - the movie

When I was a teenager, I had a guilty secret. I liked Abba. My first two LPs were from the Swedish supergroup, and I have never stopped enjoying their music. But this was not something one could admit as a seventies teenager. So I developed a short-lived taste for Genesis and Pink Floyd, and feigned an enthusiasm for punk. My tastes have since evolved into folk, jazz and 'world music' but my liking for Abba has not diminished. But whereas one dare not admit to enjoying Abba because of peer taste pressure as a teenager, today one is apparently not supposed to like Mamma Mia because it offends the po-faced cultural commissars who decide what we should enjoy. So, I confess: we saw Mamma Mia last night, and laughed along with Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Walters and the rest while enjoying the corny excuses for Abba song placements and wishing we were on the Greek island where it was all filmed. The cinema was full for a 6pm showing. And if you want a piece of entertaining escapist fun, I doubt there's much better showing at the moment. Whatever the critics say.