Directed by: David Dobkin
Starring: Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, Pierce Brosnan, Dan Stevens, Demi Lovato, Graham Norton, Mikael Persbrandt, Melissanthi Mahut
Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams reunite with their Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, a title nearly as long as the movie's bloated running time. I couldn't find a single laugh in the movie, and boy were they trying. Ferrell does his schtick as the obsessive, oblivious Lars, who is singularly focused on appearing on Eurovision, Europe's most popular televised musical contest which launched the career of ABBA many years ago. McAdams is his sweet and sincere best friend and musical partner Sigrit, who is inexplicably in love with him. The Icelandic duo calls themselves Fire Saga, and manage through a series of accidents to appear on Eurovision and fulfill their dreams. Ho-hum.
Fire Saga aren't horrible musicians, just rather ordinary. Since there aren't any laughs to be had there, the movie relies on tired slapstick and homoerotic humor to squeeze whatever guffaws they can out of this thin material. Pretty soon, Eurovision just starts to feel desperate. Even McAdams and Dan Stevens, who plays a Russian contestant, and their considerable charms can't save the movie.
Eurovision may be trying to satirize the contest itself, but what good is it to satirize something which most of the streaming audience probably never heard of? The contest appears to be played pretty straightforward, so what is the point? Is Iceland being satirized? How would we know if it is?
Is there something about Iceland's fishing industry just dying to be made fun of?
What's left is a lame romantic comedy in which the clueless Lars doesn't seem to realize Sigrit is in love with him. There isn't much to Lars that would make Sigrit fall for him, since he's a juvenile loser who lives with his disapproving father (Brosnan-who is supposed to be Icelandic but can't shake his Irish accent). Everyone in this movie speaks with an accent, which I guess is Icelandic but just as well could've been Swedish for all we know. We have to take a moment to condition ourselves to the reality that this is one of those movies where the characters speak in tortured accents.
We also have a subplot in which an Icelandic banker actually doesn't want the Fire Saga to win because that means Iceland will host the contest next year and the nation can't afford to host it. So, the banker tries to swing the contest through nefarious means to ensure Fire Saga doesn't win. He doesn't have to try so hard, but the payoff ends abruptly and isn't funny anyway. Ferrell is very hit and miss with his movies. He's had some good comedies (Talladega Nights) and even a few dramatic winners (Everything Must Go). But, when he picks a bad comedy, he really picks a bad comedy. Eurovision is another example why Will Ferrell's crap-o-meter desperately needs a battery change.
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