"Support the Girls" and "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again"

Facing a glut of prestige movies I need to watch, I've decided to turn the spotlight on some of last year's well-deserving girl power pics today.  Both are movies I had almost no expectations for, and was very pleasantly surprised. Let's start off with "Support the Girls," the latest microbudget indie film from Andrew Bujalski.  Like his other films, it's an unsparingly realistic look at regular people struggling to get along and get by. This one just happens to be set in the garish world of a small Hooters sports bar knock-off called Double Whammies, managed by the motherly Lisa (Regina Hall), and owned by the grungy Cubby (James Le Gros).  

We follow Lisa through her day, handling one crisis after another.  A would-be thief is found trapped in the HVAC system. New hires, including Jenelle (Dylan Gelula), need to be trained.  Shaina (Jana Kramer) had an altercation with her scumbag boyfriend, and needs to pay for a lawyer. Danyelle (Shayna McHale) has to be persuaded to flirt with a sound system salesman, so he'll provide music for their unsanctioned fundraiser.  Maci (Hayley Lu Richardson) may be sleeping with one of the customers. Krista (AJ Michalka) has just gotten an inappropriate tattoo. There's an unscheduled visit and disruptions from Cubby. And the cable's out.

If you're not familiar with Mumblecore films, "Support the Girls" may feel amateurish and ungainly at first.  The production is bare bones and often looks rough. There's an improvisational feel to much of the dialogue, and many of the little subplots don't end up going anywhere.  However, the film deftly paints a sympathetic picture of all the behind-the-scenes effort that goes into keeping the tawdry business afloat, and details all the various indignities that the staff has to put up with.  It's especially appreciative of Lisa, who cares about her co-workers, often to her own detriment. Regina Hall is great in the role, and is vital in grounding the occasional silliness of various plot twists and a few bits of humor that don't quite work.  The female camaraderie is kept front and center, giving the film more heart than I was expecting. "Support the Girls" ends up being a cheerfully idiosyncratic ode to women persevering in tough times, and it's easily the best Bujalski film I've seen to date.

And now, on to "Mamma Mia!  Here We Go Again," which I put off watching for ages because I was not a fan of the first movie, and couldn't believe that the sequel could possibly be any better, despite all the good press I was hearing.  Well, I was wrong. "Here We Go Again" is not a film for everyone, but it's about the most delightful, effervescent movie musical I've seen in ages. It's both a sequel and a prequel, splitting its narrative between a young Donna (Lily James), who travels the world and ends up in Greece after whirlwind romances with three different suitors, and her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), in the present day, who is reopening Donna's hotel and mourning the loss of her recently departed mother.  Everyone is back in some capacity, including all three of Sophie's possible fathers from the first film, a very sweet Meryl Streep cameo, and new characters played by Andy Garcia and Cher. Oh, and there are ABBA numbers everywhere, of course, performed with great enthusiasm.

The plotting here is absolutely preposterous, but it's also completely beside the point.  The movie is built on good feelings and big dreams, expressed through its elaborate musical numbers, colorful production design, and the sunny Grecian scenery.  This is the kind of movie where crowds convene and dance along the street with a complete lack of self-consciousness, where ancient cartoon sight gags are resurrected during the goofy "Waterloo" number, and Cher arrives totally out of the blue by helicopter for her big number.  Not having all the manufactured tension of figuring out who Sophie's father was from the first film actually helps, because it allows "Here We Go Again" to be much looser and free-form. Also, having Lily James as the second lead instead of Meryl Streep is a huge upgrade. In addition to being a much stronger singer, James just oozes charm and charisma here, making her free-spirited young Donna a surprisingly compelling character to watch.       

There are flaws aplenty, of course, and those viewers who don't get swept up in the film's energy will notice them more readily.  Character motives are flimsy, some of the songs go on forever, and Cher has never seemed more stiff. But when she starts singing, it's clear that she's still got the same flair that she had in the '70s, and I adored seeing her onscreen again.  This is my kind of feel-good movie, full of catchy music, idyllic visuals, and lots of appealing actors who look like they're having a ball. And though it's been widely billed as a rom-com, the mother-daughter story is its heart, and when was the last time you saw a summer blockbuster built around one of those?

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