‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ Is the Rare Sequel That Got Better Without Meryl Streep

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What to Stream This Weekend

MOVIE: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
DIRECTOR: Ol Parker
CAST: Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski, Lily James, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, with Andy Garcia, and Cher
AVAILABLE ON: Prime Video and iTunes

If you wrote the idea out on paper, it would sound utterly ridiculous: Make an original sequel to the adaptation of Broadway’s Mamma Mia!, a movie that was popular but far from critically acclaimed, without the above-title movie star who carried the original film to begin with. In many ways, the first Mamma Mia was like an old wooden cart careening down a winding mountain path. Between the shamelessly cheesy staging, the wild swings in singing ability from one cast member to another, and the ham-handed sense of humor, you kept thinking the wheels were about to fall off. But the cart held together, partially due to the teflon nature of the ABBA music, but in large part to the undeniable star power of Meryl Streep pulling the whole endeavor across the finish line. Attempting a sequel a decade later seemed like tempting fate as it was; but doing so without Streep — and from the minute we saw that first trailer, we began to put together that her character, Donna, was only being shown in flashback — was lunacy.

Here’s the gag of the entire year, though: not only does Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again work, but it works a LOT better than the first one. How many things can say they got better after losing Meryl Streep? This one does, though. Part of that can be attributed to director Ol Parker, who brings the on-location majesty (the island settings were shot on the coast of Croatia) out much more effectively, especially in the flashbacks. In the film’s present storyline, Donna has indeed passed away, leaving ownership of her idyllic Greek inn to her daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), who is determined to re-open the place in her mother’s honor. In time for the grand re-opening, all our faves return to the isles, including Donna’s best pals Tanya (Christine Baranski, rolling around in every campy line reading) and Rosie (Julie Walters), and Sophie’s three dads (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, and Stellan Skarsgard, this time wisely kept away from the singing).

It’s in the flashbacks where the movie comes so surprisingly alive. Lily James, who’s spent the last few years springing forth from Downton Abbey into major film roles from Cinderella to Baby Driver, makes for a shockingly fantastic Young Meryl. It’s not that she approximates Streep’s vibe, but honestly? She gets into that earthy, magnetic Donna vibe better than Meryl ever did. Sprung from university and vacationing around Europe, she has her fateful dalliances with the young Sam, Bill, and Harry (Jeremy Irvine, Josh Dylan, and Hugh Skinner), ultimately ending that one crazy summer pregnant with Sophie and on the precipice of her new life. It’s all surprisingly sturdy, emotionally speaking, and the strength of the flashbacks makes the more rickety present-day stuff — where the acting is still quite hammy, for good and for ill — feel more resonant.

That said, you’re not spending six bucks on a rental for the sturdy under-girding of flashback sequences. You’re here for the big ABBA songs and aunts-on-the-dancefloor production numbers, and for those, Mamma Mia 2 does not disappoint. Lily James, once again, turns out to be the life of the party in song as well, while the use of deeper-bend ABBA ballads help push the emotional story along. Smartly, Parker isn’t afraid to reprise some of the first movie’s best songs, and indeed, the film comes most exuberantly to life when it’s time for “Mamma Mia” or “Dancing Queen.”

And then there’s the Cher of it all. She doesn’t show up until nearly the end, but from the moment she steps a toe down on firm ground, you can think about nothing else but what will occasion her first song. I won’t spoil it in case you’ve yet to hear, but I can think of no better reason (and there are already lots!) to invite loads of people over to watch Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again with you than to be able to experience that moment in a room full of like-minded enthusiasts.

Also can we talk about how Christine Baranski and Jessica Keenan Wynn playing present and past Tanya are so eerily tuned into each other’s wavelengths, I have to imagine that a time machine or some enchanted flat iron was involved? Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a movie made for viewing parties, and it’s this kind of stuff that will have the room buzzing. Even if the story didn’t hang together surprisingly well, thanks to those flashbacks, it would still be the kind of movie where Cher’s first line is in French for no reason. Where the closing-credits singalong might be the single best moment of the movie. Where Young Bill turns out improbably to be the all-time snack champion. So sing along, give your snacks thematically appropriate names like Dancing Quiche and Pears Brosnan, and freak the heck out for Cher. It’s what Donna would have wanted.

Where to stream Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again