The Eurovision Song Contest is an
annual song competition that a total of 52 countries, mostly from Europe, have
participated in at least once. And, no,
it’s not just another reality TV singing contest like American Idol or The Voice. It’s actually much, much bigger than that. Although few people outside those 52
countries have heard of Eurovision, it’s actually a mega-event for the participating
countries. For scale, Rachel McAdams
described it as “bigger than the Super Bowl.”
Moreover, it’s been around since 1956, and thus, it’s a venerated European
institution at this point. Some notable
winners are ABBA (Sweden) and Celine Dion (although she’s Canadian, she
represented Switzerland).
2020 marks the first year in its
64-year history that there’s no Eurovision, as it was cancelled because of the
COVID-19 pandemic. However, it’s kinda
poetic that slated for this year is a musical comedy film that’s based on it,
which is titled Eurovision Song Contest:
The Story of Fire Saga.
The movie follows Lars Erickssong
(Will Ferrell), a middle-aged man from Húsavík, Iceland whose life’s dream is to win the Eurovision Song Contest ever since he saw ABBA won it as a kid. Sharing this dream is his best friend since
childhood, Sigrit Ericksdóttir (Rachel McAdams). Together, they form the band Fire Saga. Although they are far from being the best
performers in Iceland, a twist of fate grants them the chance to be Iceland’s representative
to the Eurovision semi-final.
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga has some fun parts, but is a bad movie as a whole. The story
is stupid, predictable, and uneven. And
while there are a few moments that warrant laughs, the comedy aspect is a letdown. Which is a shame, since its premise has
elements that could have been made into a genuinely interesting film.
Going in, I was expecting its
depiction of the Eurovision Song Contest to be reminiscent of the highly
entertaining reality TV singing competition arc in Carole & Tuesday, in which there’s a mix of serious and
over-the-top (honestly, I was hoping for the movie to have a “Galactic Mermaid”
counterpart). However, the in-movie Eurovision
Song Contest is treated seriously. A
couple of the performers are actually legit Eurovision contestants in real life.
Apparently, Will Farrell is a
die-hard Eurovision fan. That’s why even
though the plot is goofy, its depiction of the contest itself is handled with
respect. This movie is sort of a passion
project of his. However, while his
passion for this project is to be respected, I think he’s the worst part of
this movie. His script stinks (he co-wrote
the screenplay). And his performance drags
down the rest of the movie. He’s just not a compelling lead here. For
every joke of his that hit, ten miss.
Also, he isn’t a believable pairing for Rachel McAdams.
Will Farrell has been on a streak
of duds lately. It’s possible that, at
this point of his career, his creativity and brand of humor have grown stale
already. He must realize that he can’t afford to be a mere one-dimensional
goofball in his movies anymore.
On the other hand, Rachel McAdams
and Dan Stevens (who plays the Russian representative, who’s the favorite to win it
all) have charismatic performances. They
made their characters quite winsome. Also,
even though they didn’t sing their own songs (their singing voices were
provided by Junior Eurovision alumna Molly Sandén and opera singer Erik Mjönes, respectively),
you can’t ask for more from their lip syncing execution.
But the thing I like the most about this movie is the music. Indeed, the
songs are actually pretty good. My favorites
are “Double Trouble”, “Husavik”, and “Jaja Ding Dong” – especially this one! With its catchy music and amusing lyrics, “Jaja
Ding Dong” is a delightful earworm.
However, are the songs worth
sitting through this clichéd, cluttered movie?
“Can’t I just watch clips of the song numbers?” you might ask. Well, the songs are enjoyable on their
own. But the context that the story
provides actually makes the songs more pleasing and meaningful.
Besides, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga isn’t entirely
terrible. It has enough to be a passable
diversion. And the experience of hearing
“Jaja Ding Dong” for the first time and then having it get stuck in your head later
almost makes up for the movie’s flaws.
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