With the sequel to Mamma Mia! fast approaching, what better way to get ready than to revisit all the toe-tapping musical numbers from the first installment — now streaming on Netflix!
Below is our official ranking of all the hits from the 2008 worldwide musical phenomenon — bet you can’t guess what will be number one! (Just kidding, you totally will.)
17. ‘When All Is Said and Done’
Two words: Pierce Brosnan. The man can’t sing, and this song is only him doing just that. And it’s such a casual throwaway number toward the end of the film, it was better left on the cutting room floor.
16. ‘Our Last Summer’
It’s a cute little aside, a moment between Sophie and her three dads as they recount their summer with her mother, Donna. But again, it features three men who can’t sing all that well.
15. ‘Honey, Honey’
The opening number of Mamma Mia! is a blast of the high-level enthusiasm you get from the rest of the movie. Amanda Seyfried, twirling around holding her mother’s diary, dishes the dirt to her two best friends. Her eyes are alive and bright, and the feel-good-ness of her performance is instantly infectious. It also sets up the premise of the whole thing in a fun, clever way.
14. ‘I Have a Dream’
Likewise, another Sophie number is what fittingly closes the film, and it’s a number that nicely ties everything together as she heads off with her now husband, sent off by her now three dads. It’s a calming moment and a lovely note to end on before that post credits sequence hits.
13. ‘Chiquitita’
Julie Walters and Christine Baranski’s attempt to cheer up a weepy Meryl Streep is wonderful, and this song fits right in. Any song that has the moral of everything is going to be OK as long as you have your friends and some booze and pills, well, that’s good enough for me.
12. ‘Lay All Your Love On Me’
This is a song that features choreography that has a bunch of shirtless men on a pier doing a funny dance wearing huge flippers. If that isn’t enough of a sell, this takes a sexy spin on one of ABBA’s most electric songs as Sophie’s fiance Sky reminds her just how much he’s madly in love with her.
11. ‘Take a Chance On Me’
It’s wonderful to give Julie Walters the kick-off moment for one of ABBA’s best-known songs, but it’s unfortunate that its positioning so close toward the end of the movie makes it feel like a bit of an after-thought. That is, however, until the wedding party’s jumping causes a crack in the foundation forcing a fountain of water to spray into the sky. Then comes Meryl Streep’s iconic line-reading of “Aphrodite!” It kills me.
10. ‘Super Trouper’
This is our first introduction to Donna and the Dynamos in full form, and it does not disappoint. The toe-tapping number is such a fun moment that starts in shaky a cappella, which makes sense since these women haven’t been together to perform in so long. Isn’t it great when performance lends itself to story?
9. ‘S.O.S.’
Arguably one of ABBA’s best songs is put to great use in this moment between Donna and her old flame Harry. Yes, it’s another instance of Pierce Brosnan singing, but the staging and choreography between him and Meryl Streep, along with her leading the emotion of the song, makes it a stand-out.
8. ‘Does Your Mother Know’
This is such a throwaway side song that has truly nothing to do with the main plot of the film, but it is Christine Baranski’s shining moment, and it should not be counted out. It’s a surprising showstopper with such fun energy from Baranski, and you can tell she’s having an absolute blast, and as a result we do, too. And I mean, she ends the number by blowing a kiss that knocks down all the men around her.
7. ‘The Winner Takes It All’
If it were fully up to me, this would be higher on the list. Meryl Streep knocks the entire house down with this power ballad, belting into Pierce Brosnan’s face about…well, that’s what forces me to knock this song down a peg. The lyrics actually have nothing to do with what’s happening narratively, and its meaning is totally shoehorned in. But you can’t deny the way Meryl uses that red scarf as she ascends a gorgeous cliffside staircase.
6. ‘Slipping Through My Fingers’
This is the one that makes me cry. This touching ode from mother to daughter stars a crooning Meryl Streep as she watches Sophie get ready for her wedding. Unlike the musical number above, this one’s lyrics fit perfectly with the narrative and end up packing quite a heart-wrenching punch to the gut.
5. ‘Waterloo’
One of the best post-credit sequences ever? That might not even be an exaggeration. After we fade away with the resolute “I Have a Dream” and go to black, suddenly Donna and the Dynamos are back on stage, and Meryl Streep is shouting to the camera, “Do you want another?!” It’s tough to think that line is even scripted. These actresses just seem high on the infectious ABBA of it all, dive into this tune and are quickly joined by the rest of the cast in a feel-good encore.
4. ‘Money, Money, Money’
The first time I watched Mamma Mia! it was actually this song that got me hooked. As Donna bemoans to Rosie and Tanya about the dilapidated state of her hotel, it transforms into a ravishing rendition of the ABBA song about how money makes the world go ’round. When the three actresses are transported to the front of a yacht, bathed in golden hour light and with a seemingly infinite amount of fabric flowing from their gowns, that’s when I decided this movie musical was the real deal.
3. ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) / Voulez-Vous’
This combined musical number is the pivotal turning point of the whole movie. In the middle of a swirling dance party that combines the bachelor and bachelorette parties into a mass of partygoers bathed in neon lights, Sophie is faced with the realization that all three dads claim to be her real father and want to walk her down the aisle. As she becomes visibly overwhelmed, the frame begins to literally swirl, matching the pulse of the music. It all escalates to Sophie collapsing, and it’s perhaps the best cohesion of style, song and narrative throughout the entire movie.
2. ‘Mamma Mia’
When Donna realizes all three of her summer flings have arrived to the island, she goes to sneak a peek on them, and so begins the titular song of the movie, “Mamma Mia,” and it’s Meryl Streep’s moment through and through. Her choreography, the way she moves her face and her body, flailing, twirling, singing her ass off, it’s actually unbelievable to see the best living actress doing this type of performance, and doing it so uninhibited and fully in. It’s stunning.
1. ‘Dancing Queen’
Well, did you expect anything else? Not only is “Dancing Queen” simply one of the greatest pop songs ever, the way it’s used in the movie is a beautiful and rousing call to arms. Take it one step further, this could even be considered a feminist anthem, the way it’s framed here. By the end of the song, all the women (and men) of the island are gathered in pure triumph on a pier, and when the final note hits, Meryl Streep — with absolute joy covering her face — jumps into the ocean, quickly followed by everyone else. It’s a moment you want to watch over and over and over again. Me hitting rewind for the twentieth time: “Here we go again!”
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