I just recently saw Mama Mia! since it came on HBO. It was a lot better than I expected, but the big shocker for me was Pierce Brosnan. I'm personally not a big fan of his, maybe it's the snooty attitude he tends to exude in his usual roles. But in this movie he seems "loosened-up" and even has a terrific singing voice. It's so different but it definitely works for him and I'd look forward to seeing him in a similar character, if not in a similar movie
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It was fairly obvious to me that there was some use of auto-tune on Brosnan's singing. Clearly digitally pitch corrected. Not saying he was definitely the only one who was, but he was the one I could clearly hear it on. Sorry if this ruins anyone's illusions. It's fairly common technology.
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As a musician and singer I can say with more than a little authority that Pierce's singing was absolutely terrible. You and I must have watched different versions of the movie because I have heard cows mooing that sounds more melodic than what Pierce was forcing out.
This movie for me was far worse than I expected it to be although it seems to be liked well enough by my wife and 12 year old daughter.
Trick, you have to remember that Pierce is not a singer by any stretch. He's even admitted in interviews that he sucks at singing and that people shouldn't judge his performance by his singing.
I can tell you that after the number with Streep, everyone in the movie theater that I saw it in gave it an ovation. I can only imagine the laughter that went on during auditions.
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Fair enough, but if Pierce is such a terrible singer, then why cast him in a part that requires him to sing?
shareWell, apparently not everyone thinks Pierce is such a terrible singer. Read this new interview with Bjorn of Abba. He and Benny both like Pierce's singing!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/bjorn-is-still-a-super-trouper/article1547283/
Personally, I don't think Pierce was cut out to sing ABBA, but he does have a certain old school rocker quality to his voice. I think he's just an easy target because he was James Bond and his voice is a little different.
Also, to further answer your question, Pierce was on the Tonight show last week and said they didn't cast any of the men for their singing...I think that for the movie that just wanted sort of real life guys with just regular guy voices.
I was quite impressed with Pierce Brosnan's preformance in this movie. He's a good actor, and he has a nice voice too.
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It was a gutsy role for a superstar of his calibre. The point of the movie was that these were normal people, singing their emotions and I think it really worked. That scene when Pierce sings SOS is one of my favourite. I think he really captured the "point" - that the singing is an analogy. Consider the ridiculousness of this as reality - people breaking into song everytime they are emotional. It was fantastic.
shareI agree that Brosnan's singing wasn't that good. However, he did do a great job with "When All Is Said and Done."
shareThat scene when Pierce sings SOS is one of my favourite.
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Of course the men from ABBA would say they liked his singing, since they were advertising their movie at the time (who would turn up to hear him murder songs?).
As a musician and singer myself, I thought Mr. Brosnan did a pretty good job with his part. I've heard him sing in other movies and on shows, Irish tunes, and I think he has a terrific warm baritone.
When I saw the movie, I knew immediately what the main problem was: the way the songs were arranged were high above Mr. Brosnan's range. I don't know if they were that way because he had to match Ms. Streep in the duet, or for the company, or for no good reason, but if they'd been transposed down a few keys I'm sure he would have done better.
I agree with the one post; I think he did much better with the song "When All Is Said And Done". he seemed much more comfortable with it.
No - the range wasn't the problem. The problem is that Brosnan just isn't a singer. His singing was painful. All of it was cringeworthy, no matter the song, no matter the range.
shareI have to agree, his singing actually distracted me from the film. Great actor, just please dont sing anymore! :)
shareI agreed with carpathian.... somehow having an "ordinary person" (not a professional singer)... was kind of nice I thought. At first, his singing was a shock to me, but I got used to it and now like it. Other than the singing, I completely liked him in the role, and the singing even was fine with me - in fact it was nice to have someone singing a bit more laid back.
sharecarpathian - absolutely right. The range provided to Brosnan, a natural baritone, was way too high. Had they lowered it a third, he would have provided a warm delivery as he did in the later song. For a person with no training, he did fairly well.
shareThe first time that I saw this movie I thought that his singing was terrible. But my mom likes this movie so I have seen it quite a few times now and have either got used to his singing or have realised that this signing is no worse than anyone else.
None of them are really singers but I still enjoy this movie and they all certainly look like they had a great time making it.
If there's one thing Brosnan can't do it's sing. His voice was truly dreadful and should have been dubbed by someone who could sing or he should not have been in the movie. It was a bad desicion to leave it as they did.
shareWho else would they have cast as the middle aged love of the main character? Of course he couldn't sing (without help), but he was still handsome enough to play the main love interest. That would be why they cast him in this.
shareAgain, I submit, they could have found an actor in the right age range to play the handsome past love interest without casting someone who sounds so awful as a singer. It's not like Pierce Brosnan is the only game in town.
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I agree with you, I also did not like his singing, it ruined the film for me. I cannot believe that there are some people who actually like it. There must be something wrong with their ears. Shocking.
shareI wasn't impressed by his voice but for the fact that he was brave enough to tackle a role that required him to sing. At least his voice is not so bad plus it was delightful to see him "loosen-up" as you say.
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I appreciate his bravery....but good lord...that's some bad singing. I agree with the above...it distracted me from the movie. Bjorn and Benny were being polite...no way they think that was good singing after working with Agnetha and Frida.
Bad casting choice for a musical for sure. Thank god the makers of The Sound of Music didn't take that approach so we could commend Julie Andrews on her "bravery" instead of her great singing.
One cannot objectively classify it(IM2) as a box office disappointment-BOMojo
The song SOS was well out of his range. This usually happens in a duet. The scale is either set to the man or the woman's scale. In this case he had to sing to Meryl's scale, and he ended up singing high, almost screeching (e.g. when you're gone, how can I even try to go on).
Must say he's a great sport. He could have just said "bring Meryl down to my scale" and we would have had Meryl sounding like she's suffocating herself. I've heard Brosnan sing with Ewan McGregor in an interview and he keeps tune beautifully in his comfort zone. And the inteview was live after all - no scope for any tweaking by Pro-Tools or any other music recording software.
You clearly are not a singer - he sounded horrible on that song because he's a terrible singer, period.
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I think he has a very sexy voice by itself & the singing was also quite sexy.
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I've never seen this movie, channel surfing last night and came in right before this number, 'SOS'. I'd read about Pierce Brosnan's singing, along with the rest of the cast, when the movie came out. I loved his singing of this song! Loved it! I'm listening to it right now on youtube. Yes, he did have to sing it higher for his part, but, he gave it his all and that comes across. Kudos, Pierce Brosnan!
shareIt really didn't bother me that Brosnan couldn't sing very well. Perhaps if this had been an opera, or a more serious type musical it would have.
I had the expectation this would be a fun and light-hearted movie with songs by a group I love. Didn't disappoint me at all. I wanted fun entertainment and this movie delivered - bad voices and all.
(Hard to watch this movie and stay still in your seat.)
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Just watched it for the first time - as expected his acting was fine, but come on - his singing was terrible! Everyone I watched it with burst out laughing after his first line!
shareAll the men were dreadful and the movie was better for it - come on, James Bond, Mr, Darcy and Bootstrap Bill singing!?
shareFunny but I agree with others when I saw it and heard him sing I felt he was not a good singer and it made me laugh too however I've read various places that the movie was about the music telling the story but they wanted actors to play the parts. IT was like they didnt give a lot of thought to them being good singers. If you think about it in real life not everyone can sing good. Go to Karoake and people who think they can sing who really can't. People sing in their cars, in their showers and most of them can't sing. Donna would not possibly have dated 3 men who were all good singers so in essence it makes sense to have them sing as a real person who could not sing would.
Most people are looking at it as if this is music we have heard Abba sing so we want to hear it done well in a movie but from what I keep hearing that was not the point of the movie. IT was to tell a story using their songs. I am beginning to see that viewpoint more now. I have only watched it once and I felt most of the singing was not good and only a couple did pretty well. So maybe when I see it again I will see the fun lightheartedness of the characters and not pay attn so much to the singing.
I mean when you think about it these hollywood casting people, directors, writers are smart enough to cast a movie with great singers so it makes sense if their purpose was to do a movie of fun and not rely on the strength of the singing. I think its hard for most to even seen that view when they just want to hear good music instead. I can see both sides to it.
please, pierce brosnan sounds like a sea cow undergoing a rectal exam, but the whole movie exudes such joi de vivre that it's hard to keep yourself from singing along with all the songs.
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