Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga

This review may contain spoilers!

This bizarre musical comedy is one of the most charming, and at the same time, nonsensical films of 2020. I would give Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Saga a 5.5/10.

 Eurovision Song Contest follows Lars and Sigrit, the amateur music duo known as 'Fire Saga'. When odd happenstance enables the pair to perform in the Eurovision song contest, Lars draws close to realising his dream of winning the competition while Sigrit hopes the competition finally draws them together as more than just a musical act. Something that struck me about this film was the genuine love for this competition, and more broadly for music. Within the movie there was this liberating love of performance, the way music can communicate something and allow people to connect with one another is perhaps one of the strongest themes in the film. I also have to admit that while most of the film focuses on the comedy and Lars, the genuinely interesting storyline is Sigrit's. All of her life Sigrit has been chasing around after Lars, hoping that they would fall in love. But over the course of the film Sigrit learns to fight for her place in Fire Saga and then rejects other characters' attempts to restrict her; ultimately triumphing over her doubts and fears by performing her own original song in the Eurovision finals. It was really nice characterization and one of the more likeable aspects of the film. The cinematography is very high rate for a comedy, capturing not only the beautiful settings but also the wonder of the characters experiencing the world of Eurovision for the first time. The soundtrack for this film is an absolute triumph; there is a range of really fitting Eurovision parody as well as celebration of song from cast and Eurovision performers from throughout the years.

Dan Stevens, who played Alexander Lemtov, is a bold and charismatic frenemy of sorts throughout the feature; Stevens plays well to the lustful, closeted Russian bachelor/performer who proves to be more heart than opposition as the film goes along. Graham Norton, who plays himself, has a wry wit that does everything for his line delivery; Norton unabashedly praises and mocks with fervour throughout and he is without a doubt my favourite cameo in the film.

However, the best performance came from Rachel McAdams, who played Sigrit Ericksdottir. There was this expectation going into Eurovision Song Contest that it would be yet another Will Ferrell movie. While it certainly had a number of glaring qualities of a Will Ferrell movie, this couldn't be described as anything other than McAdams. As a character, Sigrit is just utterly fascinating to watch from the start; she is almost like an overexcited fangirl eager to live up to Lars' dreams. The really nice thing about McAdams is just how naturally she builds her character's development throughout the feature. Sigrit goes from blindly following Lars, to becoming uneas about his ego and performance decisions; ultimately she starts to challenge him and fights for her voice in Fire Saga. I liked that Sigrit was a character motivated by love; her love for Lars never really went away and she was loyal to it but when she accepted her self-worth that made her role incredibly valuable to watch. Seeing Lars put aside his blind ambition for Sigrit by the end of the film was a nice way to fulfil all the character work McAdams had really been putting in and the final Eurovision song is a heartwarming ballad of love.

While Eurovision song contest is a charming film with a genuine passion for significant aspects of its story, there are extensive moments in which it struggles as a comedy. The film pushes for a laugh rather than offering one, often forcing a scene beyond the point of actually being funny and never really gauging when enough is enough. In typical Will Ferrell fashion the film revolves around an adult man who acts like a child for most of the movie, has an ambitious dream, lets his own ego nearly blow it and then snatches things from the brink of disaster right at the end. None of this movie really sets out to surprise you and Will Ferrell's leading role, Lars, is by no means very endearing or even unique from roles he has played in the past. The humour goes from just bland jabs at European and American culture right through to an overly elaborate Demi Lovato ghost and elf assassins saving the day. The film oftens feels like it's dragging its feet and for a relatively simple story it sure doesn't know how to get to the point; instead we are diverted with filler scenes, meaningless subplots or side characters who never really make their mark. The editing for this film is pretty sluggish, the slow pace of how this film is cut really lets down the pretty impressive visual style.

Will Ferrell, who played Lars Erickssong, fails the film as its leading performer; Ferrell doesn't stick strongly to his accent and tends to play to the melodramatic sense of comedy he is notorious for. Mikael Persbrandt, who played Victor Karlosson, is a stoic figure with a two-dimensional display of range; Persbrandt doubles down on portraying a very overly serious role and then proceeds to have the most convoluted and unnecessary antagonist reveal/death scene you could imagine. Pierce Brosnan, who played Erick Erickssong, doesn't really look like he wants to be in this film nor really understands it; Brosnan and Ferrell as a father/son duo is probably one of the most ridiculous pairings anyone could've dreamed up. Olafur Darri Olafsson, who played Neils Brongus, is a very generic government representative type; Olafsson plays his character like a lukewarm tea - you drink it because you made it, not because you enjoy it. Melissanthi Mahut, who played Mita Xenakis, is the young attractive rival for the leading actress and it never really falls into place; Mahut really tries her best but the nature of her character was played out when comedies were doing it in the early 2000s. Demi Lovato, who played Katiana, was one of the worst cameos in the film; Lovato's singing star power was the only sell to her being there because her ghostly acting was dismal. Zack Propert, who played Stephan, is funny visually as 'the kid in the bad' but his performance doesn't really do much for the film; Propert and Ferrell struggle to bring a genuine laugh out of their scenes together which leads to some flat moments.