Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is comfortably unoriginal
Being born in 1992, some of my most formative years were spent in the company of Will Ferrell — whether I liked it or not. This is not to say I don’t like Ferrell’s brand of humor, but that for a period in the mid 2000s, he was inescapable. Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, Wedding Crashers, Old School, and Anchorman all seemed to blend together in one screaming, hilarious blur as I went through my adolescence. He was the next Sandler, obnoxious but too unashamed for me to be upset about it.
While his career has not ended, Ferrell certainly has not been pumping them out like he did back in the mid-2000s. Add to this the overwhelmingly poor reception to Ferrell’s recent Holmes & Watson and Netlix’s — let’s call it “occasionally questionable” — barometer for quality feature films, and Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga has no right to be remotely enjoyable. But somehow, it kind of is? Perhaps it is the combined star power of Ferrell and Mean Girls star Rachel McAdams, or maybe my bar for comedy features has just dropped this low, but I found Eurovision to be an enjoyable, if not profound, watch.
It tells the story of Lars Errickssong (Ferrell) and Sigrit Ericksdottir (McAdams), who form a fumbling electronica band known as “Fire Saga”. While playing more traditional music at live gigs to make ends meet, the duo’s true dream is to win the Eurovision Song Contest (which, it should be noted, is a real competition). By virtue of freak accident (or is it?), Fire Saga gets in to Eurovision. What follows is a funny, if typical story about competitive spirit, romance, jealousy, and of course, the importance of heart over talent. Most of the content is trite, but no one is tuning in to a Will Ferrell comedy for the groundbreaking storytelling. There are contrived political issues with Iceland winning that adds little to the story, and the more I think about it, the more I think the movie would work exactly the same if you removed the entire subplot. You might lose two jokes, tops, and it seems to drag the rest of the movie down.
While the script treads familiar ground, there are some interesting positives to be found in Eurovision. Dan Stevens shows up as the competition and plays entirely against type as a flamboyant European of curious sexual orientation. He is wonderful, and if you watch Eurovision and The Guest back-to-back, you will immediately want to know what he’s going to do next. The man has got range. That is not to say that other cast members are necessarily slacking. There are only a few moments of rigidity in performances from any of the main cast, with McAdams and Ferrell sharing a nice on-screen chemistry. McAdams’ portrayal of Sigrit is another high note, taking a female character who was strong in the first place and reinforcing her with believable humility and optimism. Add to this a surprisingly catchy batch of songs, and I had no problem experiencing a story I saw coming. As much as we know where this plot is headed, the characters themselves are likable enough to stick around for the ride.
There is nothing new here in terms of cinematography or sound. While it does include some rather impressive, large-scale stunt work to aid its silly script, I also noticed at least two moments of obvious ADR (audio dialogue replacement, where a character’s dialogue is added in post-production) and some slips in focus. To the layman, this doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t, this isn’t Citizen Kane. That said, it did pull me out of the moment, and it may bother the vigilant continuity-crocodiles out there.
Eurovision is watchable, if a bit dated on release. It is inoffensive, but part of me is refreshed by Ferrell escaping his old frat-boy stylings. There are moments of true sincerity here, and it carries a universal, if banal, message about perseverance. Don’t worry, though, there are still a few dick jokes.
Subjective Verdict
3/5
Look, I’m not here for groundbreaking cinema this time around. I’m here for the laughs and the good times, and that’s what I got. It’s high quality junk food, a Big Mac in a gold foil wrapper. And sometimes, I like to get a large number one in the drive thru.
Objective Verdict
2/5
This is a fun flick, but you know what you’re getting in the description, the posters, and the trailers alike. There are no surprises, and I can’t see any innovation in the industry, but it’s not a total throwaway.
Who should tune in
Fans of Ferrell/Stiller comedies; Families (with a sense of humor).
If this is you, go have a blast. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it’s good for a giggle with your pals.
A version of this story originally appeared on CreatorCoffeeShop.com
