Well, given that Mammia Mia 2 is taking the world by storm, why not review the crappy rip-off to its predecessor? Released back in 2014, this came right out of nowhere until I saw the trailer in cinemas where everybody and their mum rolled their eyes over its shameless to copy despite the six year time gap. Directed by Max Giwa and responsible for British Step Up knock-off StreetDance 3D (because everything was 3D at the time), can this bring the same campy charm as Mamma Mia, or does it deserve to fade into obscurity like the Asylum movies?
The story follows book shy Taylor (Hannah Arterton) reuniting with her wilder sister Maddie (Annabel Scholey) in Puglia, Italy after graduating university. Discovering that Maddie's marrying her old summer fling Raf (Giulio Berruti), she decides to hide the relationship for her sister's sake despite obvious chemistry still lingering between them. Meanwhile, Maddie has to put up with her ex Doug's (Greg Wise) advances while friends Elena, Enrico, Mikey and Lil try hiding Taylor and Raf's relationship leading up to the wedding. Oh and it has an 80s soundtrack, did I forget to mention that?
I'd rather not discuss the "similarities" with Mamma Mia when critiquing the plot because they speak for themselves. What little there is of the plot outside of the musical it desperately wants to emulate is ill conceived and tiresome. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for rom-coms involving weddings, but the ones I enjoy have heart, characters worth rooting for and believable romances with pacing and chemistry. This on the other hand feels more like the writers had a jar of cliches to pick out of, but decided to smash them all into a blender out of obligation rather than logic or reason. Most notably of this is the set-up of Taylor and Raf still having feelings for each other despite being engaged to Maddie. Already ridiculous and contrived, it also fails because we know nothing about their relationship nor why they ever bothered contracting each other despite perfectly viable ways in today's technologically mad society. And considering the unfortunate implications, it With emotional scenes feeling more manipulative, the sisterly bond which should have been the focus also feels unconvincing and is hardly touched upon because of the subplots we don't care for vying for attention.. Ranging from bland to downright creepy (which I'll elaborate on in a minute), it's safe to say that the
While anywhere in Italy is beautiful to watch, the uninspired directing and low budget costumes ruin the experience of. With obnoxious lens flare during Raf and Taylor's romance on the beach in the opening, I was expecting them to break into Summer Nights while cross cutting between Taylor at university and Raf in Puglia. The dance sequences don't help either because they're filmed so flatly and feel as robotic and arbitrary as the story. They don't have a function in giving the characters a chance to express themselves, and it's so distracting when you see the background extras getting ready to boogie the night away, that they make mall flash mobs look more sporadic. The Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go dance party ending is especially horrible as it makes the dance party ending in From Justin to Kelly look like the dance numbers from the 2016 Half a Sixpence revival (I know, an oddly specific comparative, but the choreography was some of the best I'd ever seen and needed to give it a shout out because I've always been bitter over its Olivier snubs and early closure) and doesn't really help wrap the story up.
I, like possibly everyone else, have the same question regarding the soundtrack: Why is it 80s hits? I have no clue other than there wasn't another pop group from the past 30 years with appropriate songs to fit the story or characters! While Mamma Mia had a few songs with narrative function, none of them in Walking on Sunshine connect to the plot or segue properly to the point that you could take them all out and nothing would change. Some confusing numbers include Venus after Taylor and Lil compare Maddie to a goddess, Faith when Doug sneaks into a drunk Maddie's bedroom trying to sex her up after her hen do (not creepy or rapey at all), The Bangles' Eternal Flame as Taylor ogles Raf while on the beach, If I Could Turn Back Time during the climax despite relationship qualifying as "true love" and Maddie shipping immediately after calling off the wedding (Christ, I don't care about revealing spoilers over immediately and the titular song during a tomato throwing festival (which takes place in Spain, not Italy) as Raf and Taylor snipe at each other over their relationship. With every cliched 80s hit you could think of, the awful singing doesn't exactly want to to make you sing along when everyone sounds like they're doing it drunkenly in a karaoke bar.
I probably would've been forgiving if the movie had a likeable cast to bring some charm, campiness and self awareness to the stock story and characters, but it doesn't even have that. Everybody is the Aldi equivalent of other high profile actors with terrible singing to boot. Hannah Arterton as Soph-I mean Taylor, has no personality other than sniping at Raf and supporting her sister with mediocre singing to match her blandness. While Maddie has a bit more personality with her sporadic decision to marry Raf after five weeks (who the hell does that?), her lack of development until her last minute decision to not get married because she realized she went to Italy to "find herself" comes right out of nowhere and doesn't match her character besides being the best way to resolve the love triangle to avoid any hard feelings with Taylor. Raf is just a very sexy and well chiseled blank slate we know nothing about and feels more like an object for the audience to ogle. However, the worst of them has to be Greg Wise as Doug. Despite attempting to emulate Pierce Brosnan, he comes across as a creepy douchebag while pursuing Maddie, which begs the question how did she put up with him for five seconds, let alone five years? The rest of the cast are just useless best friend stereotypes who are terrible liars to Maddie despite her obliviousness. The closest to star power among the friends (and the entire movie) is X Factor winner Leona Lewis as Elaina, who has the best singing from the cast, but her acting doesn't have much to be desired and has a pregnancy subplot that is quickly forgotten until the very end. Behind her would be comedienne Katy Brand as Lil, who does nothing but to be a Rebel Wilson knock-off and make sex jokes because of her job as an erotic fiction writer (and hopefully not friends with EL James).
Walking on Sunshine is such a shameless attempt to Mamma Mia, it hinges on being so bad it's good because of its laughable attempts at being on par with its namesake. A bargain bin version in every aspect with a tone deaf cast in acting, singing and dimensionality, a cliched plot even by rom com standards and uninspired musical numbers, they can't bring the charm and campiness to. With, this movie is a complete waste of time unless you're looking for something to laugh at with your friends.
Rating: * 1/2
