Mamma Mia!

For a while now, I've hated going to the movies. There's always someone talking through the movie, or the person behind me is coughing and hacking, or cell phones keep ringing. Hell, Mike and I saw The Dark Knight Sunday, and this couple brought their damn baby (EDIT: I realize that what I should have said here is, "This damn idiot couple brought their poor helpless baby!"). To a loud, scary movie! And they sat RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! Luckily for me, the sound was cranked up about as loud as it could go, so I could only hear the crying baby during the few quiet parts.

As much as I've hated going to the movies, I've been to see Mamma Mia! twice, and I would go again. It's a cheesy movie with a predictable plot, but I love it anyway. First, it's full of Abba songs, so every other aspect of the movie could be pure goat shit and I'd still love it anyway. Second, Christine Baranski is in it. She's like Jennifer Coolidge. No matter what she's in, she's hilarious, and she steals the show. I'll see anything she's in. Third, the mother-daughter relationship is positive. These characters really do seem to love and support each other. I've always been a mama's girl, so I'm a sucker for that stuff.

But the strangest reason I loved this movie is Meryl Streep's 59-year-old boobs. They're just out there on display as if she's a woman half her age or less. And they look fabulous! And it's normal! It's not a Stiffler's-mom moment where the audience is told, "Damn, look at those smokin' boobs on that old lady!" They're just there, like any other ta-tas. (EDIT #2: I should also make it clear that Meryl Streep doesn't show off her bare breasts or anything. She just showed really good cleavage.)

It makes my inner raging feminist so proud to be able to see a movie starring not one, but THREE women in their fifties who are strong and fiesty and alive. Yes, they're in their fifties and their lives aren't over! They still get to be main characters and love interests and even objects of lust. But the movie never has that Fried Green Tomatoes feel of middle-aged women recapturing something they've lost. Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, and Julie Walters were all great.

I highly recommend you go see it. If you see it with your mom, you might cry. I saw it without my mom, and I still cried. Both times. There's good music, pretty scenery, good boobs, a positive message about women getting older, and another positive message that growing up to be like your mother just might not be a bad thing after all.

Plus there are some kick-ass boots. You'll know which ones I'm talking about when you see it.