On a lark, I re-watched “Mamma Mia!” over the weekend, to try and figure out what I missed the first time.

The first time was in 2019 on a girls’ weekend in the Adirondacks. Three of us were staying in our friend’s vacation home, and after dinner and drinks, we were playing cards and discussing ABBA.

“I love ABBA,” I remember saying. “Why are ABBA fans ashamed to admit they’re ABBA fans?”

My friends commented that if I love ABBA, I must have LOVED “Mamma Mia.”

The words “I’ve never seen it” were still hanging in the air, and they were putting the DVD in and telling me to get comfortable for one of the best movies I would ever see.

I hated it, and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep before the end. My friends could not believe it- they had never met anyone who didn’t like “Mamma Mia!” Neither had I. Last semester my students had to write an essay about an influential movie in their lives, and the first essay I picked up was about “Mamma Mia!”

“Mamma Mia!”? Influential?

I can’t believe I didn’t like it either. All signs pointed towards it being my kind of movie:

Cast: Meryl, Pierce, Colin, Christine, Amanda? TRACEY ULLMAN? What’s not to like? I mean, beside Meryl’s singing, of course.

Setting: The Greek islands are just otherworldly. Greece is next on my travel list.

Music: I mentioned ABBA. They’re just so….good.

Themes: Weddings. Mothers and daughters. Fathers and daughters. Tans and sun-bleached hair. Mid-life crises. Gorgeous, sexual middle-aged men and women.

So I re-watched it. Maybe it was my mood that first night. But nope. Just as bad and boring. I even looked up some reviews, to figure out where I was going wrong:

Mamma Mia! is the kind of story we’re always told doesn’t exist anymore: It’s driven by women and unabashed girliness; the men are set dressing while the protagonist is an older woman. It practically gallops towards its badness in places and makes you love it as a result; it’s a rom-com where women aren’t saved or positioned as prizes to be one (sic) by strutting dicks; indeed, the men are utterly ridiculous and that only makes them more loveable than if they’d been your typical on-screen heroes.

The movie is rife with bad singing. Cliches. Entendres. Structural failings. It’s hokey and corny, with its share of bad acting, too. But audiences flock to it. Why?

I’ll never know. But I might give it a third try.