DVD tip

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Boy, is this movie a big, gooey slice of cheese. To call it hokey is being generous. This sequel focuses on Amanda Seyfried’s character as she readies to reopen the hotel that her mother, played by Meryl Streep, ran in the original film. (Streep’s character is dead, alas, although the actress makes a cameo appearance here.) The storyline toggles between Seyfried’s life and flashbacks to her mother’s early 20-somethings. The best ABBA songs were used in the original “Mamma Mia!,” and the actors in the flashback tale (save for an adorably game Lily James, playing the Streep character) are mediocre and forgettable. God bless Cher, who comes strutting in at the very end of the movie and steals the whole thing. Her singing voice blows everyone else’s away, and her comedic timing makes even the lamest joke amusing.