There are many reasons why the first Mamma Mia! movie was such a smash hit, but we can all agree Pierce Brosnan’s singing was not one of them. He sounded like a labrador trapped under a blanket. Undeterred, judging by a clip of Hugh Skinner singing Waterloo in a style best described as “posh geography teacher whose necktie is too tight”, forthcoming sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again looks set to be continue this tradition of masculine musical ineptitude.
The Mamma Mia! enterprise hinges on a rarely acknowledged truth of modern movies: when it comes to actors singing, women are better at it. Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried and Lily James can hold a tune pretty well. It was a similar case with the Pitch Perfect movies. They hired Anna Kendrick and Hailee Steinfeld, both of whom have had bona fide hit songs. In earlier times, when musicals were a Hollywood conveyor belt, singing ability was a route to success, and performers would have paid their dues on stage or in vaudeville. However, today’s movie musicals must either cast genuine singers with limited acting ability, or genuine actors with limited singing ability. In the latter department, it is the men who come off worst.
La La Land was a classic example. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling: fine actors, passable singers, but if you had to give one a recording contract, it would be Stone by a mile. Same with Enchanted: James Marsden does well; Amy Adams knocks it out of the park. The Jungle Book? Bill Murray belts out The Bare Necessities; Scarlett Johansson’s Trust in Me is velvety and sensuous. Richard Gere muddled through Chicago, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renée Zellweger pulled off their tunes with aplomb. Gerard Butler’s Phantom of the Opera sounded like a Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist. Or look at Les Misérables: Anne Hathaway was fine; Russell Crowe sounded like a man giving himself a hernia.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
