20 Questions I Still Have About “Mamma Mia!”

"Одна законченная результативная задача стоит полусотни полузаконченных задач." Малкольм Форбс

What happened to Donna’s mom??

Mamma Mia! is the ULTIMATE summer movie and no one can convince me otherwise.


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Every song is an absolute bop. Plus, it’s got Meryl Streep!

But after rewatching it recently, I have a couple questions…


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Okay, I have a lot of questions.

1.

First of all, why do Sam, Harry, and Bill all go to Sophie’s wedding?


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If I had a weekslong fling with someone one summer and 20 years later they invited me to their daughter’s wedding, I would absolutely not go. What are the chances they all showed up? At the same time, too??

2.

How does Donna not know who the father is??


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Donna slept with Sam on July 16 and Harry almost a month later on August 10. Wouldn’t her doctor have been able to give her a more accurate conception date?

3.

How is Sky going to market this hotel?


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Sky says he’s going to help Donna make a website for the hotel, because people will flock to it once they know it’s there. But…the only way to get there is by boat, and everything in the hotel is broken. There also don’t really seem to be hotel rooms — we just see Sophie and her mom’s rooms. So…is this hotel really that marketable?

4.

Who are all these girls at Sophie’s bachelorette party??


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All of a sudden, like 30 girls Sophie’s age show up. Not one of them is introduced, and many of them do not seem to be at the wedding the next day. Even if Sophie does have 30 friends, would ALL of them really have been willing to travel by boat to this remote Greek island? Didn’t she grow up on the island — where did she meet all these girls? She’s only 20 and doesn’t seem to be in college, so it can’t have been that.

5.

Why do the girls tie up Bill and Harry in “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)”??


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I get that they’re singing a song asking for men, and that all the other guys are at the stag party, but did they really need to tie up two middle-aged men and give them strip dances??

6.

Donna says someone must have it out for her “up there,” and claims it’s her mother. But…doesn’t her mom show up in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again?


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I did not watch Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again because I was protesting the fact that they killed Donna, but I do know Cher played Donna’s mother. So…what’s the deal there?

7.

How do Sam, Bill, and Harry not realize they all met Donna the same summer?


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They become fast friends and hang out the entire time. One of them even says it’s been 20 years since he saw Donna! How does it never come up that it’s been 20 years for all of them? And after each of them “realize” they’re Sophie’s father, how do they not put two and two together about two of Donna’s boyfriends from around the same time being invited?

8.

Why is Sophie always running away?


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As she’s reading the diary to her friends in “Honey Honey,” she keeps running away to some other scenic part of the island. And when she tells Sky that she invited her three possible fathers to the wedding, she just asks him for help and then BOOKS it away from him so that he has to chase her. Why??

9.

Why doesn’t Sophie tell her mom the truth after Bill, Harry, and Sam are there?


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Was her plan really to reveal the one that was her father when he walked her down the aisle?? Also, what was she going to do with the other two?? Once she realized which one was her father, was she going to send the others home?

10.

Why does Sam wait so long to tell Donna he’s divorced?


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There are multiple opportunities for him to do so, but he ends up waiting until the reveal at Sophie’s wedding. He even lets Donna sing a whole song about how he abandoned her without pointing out that he came back for her!

11.

Why does Donna let Sophie go up the cliff alone and then sing a whole song to Sam, making her late to the wedding?


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She watches Sophie go off then takes her sweet time with this long (albeit awesome) ballad to Sam. Then she has to RUN up the mountain to make it in time!

12.

Why does Sophie not make up with Sky before the wedding?


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Isn’t she worried he won’t show up? He just said he wasn’t sure about marrying her! Maybe they made up off-screen?

13.

If Sam, Bill, and Harry all think they’re walking Sophie down the aisle, how come they’re all just in their seats at the wedding instead of with Sophie?


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Did Sophie tell them her mom was doing it?

14.

Why does Donna announce the truth about Sophie’s father in the middle of the wedding?


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This seems a little inappropriate. They just spent hours together — why didn’t she tell Sophie then? Also, how does she still think they all just showed up by chance and that Sophie hasn’t noticed, especially after Sam had a whole conversation with her that made it clear he’d spent time with Sophie?

15.

How does Sam get to the wedding so fast?


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Donna runs up the mountain after “The Winner Takes It All,” leaving Sam behind. The wedding starts as soon as Donna gets there, but somehow when Donna announces that Sophie’s dad is there, a minute later Sam is right there just chilling. He doesn’t even seem to be out of breath. How did he get up the cliff so fast??

16.

So…are Sophie and Sky still engaged?


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I remember being confused about this when I was little. I remember Sky saying he wanted to just go to the mainland with a few witnesses and get married — are they going to do that, or are they no longer getting married at all?

17.

Can you really just get married on the spot like that? Don’t they need marriage certificates and stuff?


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This is fun for the movie’s sake, but I’m pretty sure this can’t happen in real life. Or it wouldn’t be legally binding, at least.

18.

How is this whole sharing Sophie thing going to work?


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They live all over the world! Are they going to ship her around like she’s the jeans in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants?

19.

Specifically, what is Sam going to do? Abandon his kids and live with Donna?


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He says he has adult kids, but they have to be younger than Sophie, who was conceived before he got married. They’re likely still teenagers…don’t they need a father too?? Is he just going to up and move to this remote island?

20.

Finally, why is everyone acting like the whole fountain explosion is a good thing??


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First of all, isn’t this dangerous? Also, Donna’s going to have to fix this!! I am stressed.

In conclusion…does Mamma Mia! make any sense? No. Will I still watch it over and over again every summer? Absolutely.


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