If you haven’t been able to get the ‘Ja Ja Ding Dong’ song out of your head this weekend, you may have spent too much time watching Netflix’s Eurovision this weekend (like I did, on repeat). Eurovision is funny, sweet, 30 minutes too long but still worth the watch. Check out this movie review of Netflix’s Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
And for more Eurovision fun, you can check out these hilarious Eurovision quotes too!
Netflix’s Eurovision Movie Review
Will Ferrell is back again with another wacky movie in the same vein as Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga also stars Rachel McAdams, Dan Stevens, Demi Lovato, and Pierce Brosnan. This time instead of a sports theme, Lars (Ferrell) embarks on a quest to win the titular song contest along with Sigrit (McAdams) and their band Fire Saga. Lars has been dreaming of winning ever since he was a little boy and saw ABBA perform on televison in 1974. Since his mother passed a year prior, this may have been the only thing that provided him joy, but everyone including his father Erick (Brosnan) laughed as he danced along. He implores them to stop laughing and vows to win the contest one day, then he will have retribution.
Fast forward to present day and Lars and Sigrit are still chasing that dream. Their home of Húsavík is a drearily beautiful fishing town on the northern shore of Iceland where the highlight of their days are playing with their band at the local pub, and polishing this year’s song entry for Eurovision. If only the village elves would shine their blessings upon them, surely this time will be different.
Erick is having financial trouble with the bank and must choose to either sell his house or his fishing boat, his decision leaves Lars without a place to live and desperately needs a win in his life. Miraculously, and literally by a blind draw, Fire Saga snags the last spot of 12 contestants in the Icelandic song championship, the winner of which will go to Euroviosion! Things are looking up! Well it’s a Will Ferrell movie so of course their performance is a bungling disaster. Their one shot at success has been decimated, they are so heartbroken that they do not even attend the after party on a boat and prepare for boring lives in town. But a chance accident leads them to become the only act that can represent Iceland at Eurovison!
From there the movie meanders through them going through the show process, meeting new people like Russian Alexander Lemtov (Stevens) and Greek singer Mita, who they befriend and help navigate the uncharted waters of pageantry and love. Will Sigrit and Lars become champions? Will they fall in love, and with who? Do eleves exist? More disasters and happy moments await them throughout in this movie that while enjoyable didn’t quite hit the mark upon the first viewing.
There weren’t that many laugh out loud moments, because the movie didn’t seem to know whether its a comedy or a sappy chick flick. Add to that the its running time of just over 2 hours and it seems to overstay its welcome. But after repeated viewings it tends to grow on you, as you fondly remember certain parts that made you chuckle. Directed by David Dobkin (Shanghai Knights, Wedding Crashers, The Judge), and co-written by Ferrell, Eurovison Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is a tender movie overall, with enough subtle though sometimes unevenly spaced laughs throughout to make it a rewarding experience.
