For the uninitiated [read: Americans], Eurovision Song Contest is a big deal. The contest is over 60 years old, solicits songsmiths and fans from Europe and beyond, and often attracts the best talent a small country has to offer. In other words, it’s like “American Idol,” only with talent.
The host country is determined by the country that wins the contest the previous year. Is it not unheard of for a country to decline host duties based on expense. Tell that to “American Idol.”
If I weren’t wary of Will Ferrell by now, I’d be a fool. The last two feral Ferrell forays on the blog have been Downhill and Holmes & Watson. I rated these two at one-half star, but only when you combine the total. I was pretty sure that Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga would be a dog, but when has that ever stopped me from seeing a film?
The first time Will Ferrell appears on screen in this film, he’s wearing some sort of Valkyrie costume and proudly belting out a duet entitled “Volcano Man” with a backdrop of coastal Iceland. Wiping liquid mirth from my skeptical eyes, I knew comic Will Ferrell had returned.
Lars Erickssong (Ferrell) and Sigrit Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams) are the driving force in the local Icelandic pub band Fire Saga. Lars has a dream, to the dismay of his philandering father, Erick (Pierce Brosnan) – there’s a running joke that potential lovers Lars and Sigrit are actually sibs, exaggerated by Sigrit’s surname. Lars’ dream, sparked by his introduction to ABBA during a 1970s competition, is to win the Eurovision contest. To this end, he dedicated his life to creating the band Fire Saga while constantly putting off Sigrit’s coupling suggestions.
On stage, Fire Saga does a mix of tacky covers and originals, but their local fans, all twenty of them, prefer an off-colored mock-polka foreplay tune entitled “Ja Ja Ding Dong.” It is every bit as silly as that sounds. Nobody wants to hear Fire Saga’s Eurovision entry; they just want “Ja Ja Ding Dong.” Not only is Fire Saga a fairly mediocre band, they have a terrible habit of giving train wreck performances, two hilarious ones are present in this film and I shall spoil neither.
So, yeah, looks like Fire Saga ain’t getting off the rock to qualify for Eurovision in Edinburgh -heck, they only qualified for Iceland’s national finals by random chance- that is until all the other groups blow up on a party boat. Woohoo, defeault victory!
On the downside, film fans have to deal with a full two hours of Will Ferrell, Icelander. Will is best when he completely gives himself to a mock human character, which he has done here, and that’s where he also loses people – it’s hard to root for mock humans indefinitely, and you just know that at least twice in a film like this, Lars is going to do something that will make you want to fast forward to the next scene. To lessen the impact of Will being Will, the film added some wonderful Euro elements: Dan Stevens as hyper cool Russian artist Alexander Lemtov and Swedish perennial Eurovision contestant Molly Sandén dubbing Sigrit’s stage voice. OTOH, why Pierce Brosnan chose to go with a mock Swedish accent instead of mock Icelandic is beyond me. Maybe cuz none of us know what mock Icelandic sounds like – hey, Scandinavia is Scandinavia, right?
So, much like Will, “Ja Ja Ding Dong,” and Eurovision itself, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is uneven, but delightful. Only the most stoic of Swedes would keep a straight face during the entirety of the film; this is ones of those you can’t wait to spoil jokes over. Try not to.
♪Good Lord
That WillFerrell, he went on a comic bender
Oh no
Pretty sure that I have been dreading this day
His history of new comedy
Has stunk out the joint, you see
WillFerrell, always thought you were such a boor
WillFerrell, clogging my TV for evermore
WillFerrell, not sure you could stop if you wanted to
WillFerrell, in a PB&J, you are Elmer’s Glue♫
Rated PG-13, 123 Minutes
Director: David Dobkin
Writer: Will Ferrell, Andrew Steele
Genre: Learning about something new … and trashing it
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Eurovision fans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Hard to say; probably humorless Icelanders
♪ Parody Inspired by “Waterloo”
