Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga - pretty good, but pretty typical Ferrell stuff

The marketing for this Netflix film was pretty inventive, I'll definitely give them that. When the video for Volcano Man popped up on YouTube and immediately went viral it wasn't even terribly clear that this short music video was even a promo for an upcoming full-length movie.

I was like everyone else who first listened to it for its hilarity and then listened to it again and again because it is actually a very good and catchy song. A few days after the video went viral it was pointed out to me that this is an actual movie that was going to be released soon. It was released 3 days ago and I watched it as soon as it was available.

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Quick question: Did any of you out there already know that Eurovision is actually a real thing? Apparently it is kind of a big deal in Europe but I somehow have never even heard of it before. In the film, some of the stars are actual participants in the real thing. It seems a pretty great idea to be honest and is something I would definitely watch if they let us know when it is coming out next time (which might be a while given the virus panic in the world atm.)

Anyway, the film has some fantastic moments and as someone who does know people from Iceland, Sweden, Norway etc (sorry to lump you all together) I feel as though Will Ferrell actually did quite a good job mimicking the accent that many people from those countries end up with when speaking English. This is something I don't expect from him since I don't find Will to be terribly multi-faceted.

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The story is about Lars (Ferrell) and Sigrit (McAdams) who are two friends who have grown up in a small town in Iceland and have regular jobs but since they were kids they have been dreaming of being participants in the Eurovision contest. They are part time musicians at the local pub, but for the most part they don't get any respect from the locals who do not want to hear their original songs and will get angry with them if they try to play any of them instead of "Jaja Ding Dong".

By a freak accident they end up getting invited to the Icelandic competition to determine who will represent the country in Eurovision, Lars (Ferrell) screws up the performance as was expected and they lose. For reasons that I will not reveal for the sake of not spoiling then end up getting sent to the European competition anyway.

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This is where the story, which is already quite predictable since it follows essentially the same arc as every other film, gets a bit, dare I say, boring.

The only thing that really happens is that while they are working on their material, decisions made by Lars (Ferrell) ends up screwing up their performances. Sigrit is too kind to tell him that he is making mistakes and the tweaks that he makes to everything, including their costumes and props leads to disaster over and over again.

This doesn't mean the movie isn't entertaining, it definitely is, but the constant repetition of Lars screwing everything up over and over again get old.... fast.

The performances themselves are outstanding and not just on the part of Fire Saga (the name of their group.) There are some pretty incredible displays on the stage and it was probably pretty difficult to film them. These performances are definitely the highlight of the entire film and I am very impressed with Rachel McAdams' singing capabilities and also the fact that Will Ferrell can sing at all.

I hope it doesn't sound like I am bashing the film too much because I did enjoy it overall but was just a little disappointed to see that the only thing they can really seem to do with Ferrell in pretty much any film that he is in is to make him out to be an incompetent boob who manages to mess up everything only to really come through at the last minute - which is something you could see for a mile off and they spend upwards of 30 minutes making that happen.

I would definitely watch this if you have Netflix because it is worth seeing. Overall this film is pretty good but not epic but a lot of the reason why I feel this way is because it is basically the same thing as a dozen other Ferrell movies but with singing and dancing instead of figure skating, basketball, or reading the news.

My overall rating! 7 / 10