MovieChat Forums > Mamma Mia! (2008) Discussion > Only problem with this movies the main a...

Only problem with this movies the main actors and actresses are too old

posted 10 years ago by alfortruth
17 replies | jump to latest

This movie would have been much better had Sophie's mom, her mom's two friends and her three dads were younger, like in their 40s. Don't get me wrong, I love Meryl Streep, one of the best actresses around, but this wasn't for her, so are her two friends and her three previous lovers. They just ruined ABBA songs for me. It's kinda disappointing that the director didn't see that and decided not to chose younger actors with better singing abilities. The image of these two old friends of Donna singing and jumping is just too gross; their voice sucks too. ( so are Sophie's dads).

[–] jvanderwalt5 10 years ago

Completely disagree everyone was perfectly cast and donna's friends were supposed to sound like that. If everyone had perfect singing voices it would not have felt so real!!! It is a perfect movie

[–] ksouthworth68 10 years ago

I do think they did a fantastic job. But I thought that Donna being so young when Sophie was born was supposed to be part of the plot and Donna's history. As awesome as Ms. Streep is she was pushing 60 when this was made. She would have been an older mother to a young woman Sophie's age (20 ish) if anything, not someone who had her young.

[–] jvanderwalt5 10 years ago

Ok yes I see where youyr getting at. In that sense they must have cast younger people. But then again who is going to be better than streep. But I totally see the point

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

this is true. The daughter is supposed to be twenty, and the mother, i assume, is meant to have been a young woman when she was frisking about with those three men. it would be more believable if she and the three men were younger. And if they could sing.

[–] velcronewsletter 9 years ago

donna is specifically 40 in the musical, making her 20 when she had sophie. it's implied she comes from a religious catholic family and she states that she was disowned by her strict mother

[–] svellis-96785 9 years ago

Really, the only one whose age is potentially problematic is Meryl Streep's character. Her friends and former love interests could easily have been different ages from her character so we don't really need to look at their ages.
Although I agree the ages don't quite seem to match up, they're really not that far off. Streep was in her fifties when she filmed this, but she could easily have passed for much younger, say, mid-forties. Especially if she's had a stressful life as an abandoned, struggle single mother.
If Donna was, say, an unmarried 25 year old when she got pregnant I could see her religious parents disowning her. If Sophie is in her early twenties (plus nine months in utero), it is possible for Meryl Streep to have been her mom, and be in her late forties.
That said, I did watch the movie assuming that Donna was about twenty when she had Sophie, and I thought specifically that Sophie was twenty.

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

Technically speaking the OP is probably right. Sophie Is 20 and Meryl and the 3 "dads" should be older. But the target audience is really the "baby boomer" Abba fans from well over 30 years ago and in that respect Meryl and the 3 guys are cast very appropriately IMO.🐭

[–] MarblesLove 9 years ago

It would be reasonable even if Donna was supposed to be in her fifties like Meryl was during filming. That would mean that even though Sophie is only 20, Donna would have still only been in her thirties when she had her.

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[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

Well, in the original stage production, they had an actress in her early 40s playing Donna, which i assume was the sort of age they envisaged Donna being, which would have made her in her early 20s when she was conceiving Sophie. rather than her late 30s, which would have been Streep's age. other things suggest Donna is supposed to have been young at the time, her gushing diary for instance, read out by the girl at the beginning, sounds like the diary of a young woman rather than a more mature one. And doesn't Donna say something about being chucked out by her mother when she got pregnant - a bit unlikely for a woman in her late 30s I would have thought. certainly the thought kept returning to me while watching it that all the grownups were too old for their roles (except perhaps for Colin Firth who at 47 was the most believable).

[–] velcronewsletter 9 years ago

donna is specifically 40 in the musical, making her 20 when she had sophie. it's implied she comes from a religious catholic family and she states that she was disowned by her strict mother. harry in the musical is the only other older person whose age is specified though not through actually saying so. he was in 6th form when he met her, as he tells the other dads, making him 18 and her being 2 years older than him so he's about 38 in the musical. colin firth really was the only believable looking one in that case, although there is no knowing how old the other dads were. i estimate they were probably no more than 5 years older than donna

[–] CheshireCatsGrin 8 years ago

This was my first real introduction to Colin Firth and when he said the Sixth Form remark my mouth dropped. I thought. Donna was really robbing the cradle. Especially knowing Brosnan's age is closer to Meryl's real age.

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[–] velcronewsletter 9 years ago

donna is specifically 40 in the musical, making her 20 when she had sophie. it's implied she comes from a religious catholic family and she states that she was disowned by her strict mother. you're right in that her friends and the dads don't have to be 40. i think if tanya has had plastic surgery like it's implied in the musical (by rosie), she could be around 45. rosie i would imagine is 40-45 although early 40s makes the most sense to me as I got the impression that people were stopping asking her when she was getting married and having kids, which happens to a woman around the age of 40. harry in the musical is the only other older person whose age is specified though not through actually saying so. he was in 6th form when he met her, as he tells the other dads, making him 18 and her being 2 years older than him so he's about 38 in the musical. colin firth really was the only believable looking one in that case, although there is no knowing how old the other dads were. i estimate they were probably no more than 5 years older than donna

[–] Samuraibro 9 years ago

We get it, you don't have to keep repeating yourself.

[–] velcronewsletter 9 years ago

you are not the only person on this board. don't come on a message board if you can't handle replies to multiple people

[–] cristscu 8 years ago

haha, what a loser... how many times you mentioned the 40-20 stuff? :)))

[–] daughterofolaf 8 years ago

I like this movie but I agree that the way the story was set up it seemed like the cast should have been about half the ages of those who were in it. Especially the way Streep's character talked about how her mom reacted when she was pregnant and all that. It just didn't sit well. But I still really enjoy the film.

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[–] Pacer88 (233) 4 years ago

Completely agree. These actors were SO old!