Brits Take a Chance on Mamma Mia!

We had thought the Brits were supposed to be a bastion of Anglo-Saxon refinement against the deluge of middlebrow American culture. So this is rather startling: Mamma Mia! is set to become the number one film in Britain … of all time. The film has so far grossed ₤66.2 million since its release on July 18, putting it on pace to break Titanic’s ₤69 million record. For those wondering how damaging this is, exactly, to the Brits’ reputation of highbrow tastes, we’ll remind you of Anthony Lane’s summation: “The legal definition of torture has been much aired in recent years, and I take ‘Mamma Mia!’ to be a useful contribution to that debate.”