Reviews

I didn't have high expectations that this film would be any sort of classic, but I did hope it would at least be an amusing way to spend a few hours. The film didn't even provide laughs. It's very slow and there are no likable characters that you can root for. To make matters worse, every other word is some variation of "the f word." It's like the film was written by a 4 year old who just learned he's not supposed to say that word, and so gleefully shouts it at every opportunity. Very annoying after about 3 minutes of that. The scenes are dragged out much longer than necessary, so the film really lags in spots.

I went to a preview screening, and before the film started, someone from the theater staff came in and yelled, "Is there a Harold in the theater? Harold?" When the film started, people in the audience would occasionally shout out "Harold?" That provided the only laughs during the film. Seriously.

The four ABBA puppets perform some of ABBA's greatest hits while trying to "charm" slimy record boss Rik Mayall in this adorable short video. Most of the dialog "real" people in the video speak uses lines from ABBA songs. The cameos by the former members of ABBA allow us an interesting contrast to their former selves. The DVD includes a "making of the video" section which gives a behind the scenes look at all the work and technical details needed to bring the puppets to life. There are also four original ABBA videos from the 1970s included on the DVD, complete with wacky outfits and very basic choreography. A real treat for ABBA fans, and even those of us who merely remember them as a constant presence on the radio during our younger days!