Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Eurovision Song Contest:The Story of Fire Saga

By James Davidson

“Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” is a comedy film starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams that was released on Netflix on June 26th. The movie follows Lars Erickssong (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams), an aspiring musical duo trying to become Iceland’s representatives at the Eurovision song competition. After a disastrous audition, an explosion tragically kills all of the other musicians in Iceland, and the duo finally gets their chance to make their dream come true. However seemingly everyone, even their own country is rooting against them. The two must fight to prove their critics wrong, and to try not to embarrass their country.

I was a bit apprehensive about this movie at first, a lot of Will Ferrell’s movies are hit or miss in my opinion and I had heard some mixed things about this one. The previews looked like the movie could be funny, but didn’t do anything to win me over completely however. I was worried that this could end up being a mindless film with a convoluted story that might be good for a few laughs. I ended up being pleasantly surprised with this movie and actually enjoyed it a lot.

I had also never heard of Eurovision and didn’t know that this was a real thing that happened, so I ask that you forgive my ignorance on the subject. My wife had to explain to me that this is a massive singing competition that almost the entirety of Europe and a few other countries participate in. It’s similar to “American Idol”, or “The Voice” here in America, but on a much larger scale. It also instills a lot of national pride since all of the contestants are representing their respective countries.

The plot was simple and a bit predictable. An underdog musical duo, who isn’t particularly good, is forced into the World’s spotlight following a national tragedy and must prove all of their critics wrong. I wasn’t expecting an intriguing story in this movie. However the plot was surprisingly well executed and interesting enough to keep me invested in the movie. However, the plot mostly seems to be a vehicle for Will Ferrell, and Rachel McAdams comedy. It isn’t a great plot, but it gets the job done and is still fun to watch.

I found the comedy itself to be surprisingly enjoyable. I have always had mixed feelings about Will Ferrell, some of his movies are very funny and are comedic classics, but some of them are a bit over the top and are comedic duds. While the comedic style in this film is very over the top, it fits the story well and had me laughing through most of the film. Ferrell and McAdams play well off of each other and the resulting contrast in the characters makes the humor that much better. A few of the jokes were a bit over the top and fell a bit flat, but for the most part this was a very funny, enjoyable movie.

The songs in this movie were surprisingly catchy and I caught myself more than once singing a few of them to myself. The soundtrack is available on Spotify if you’re interested in hearing a few catchy, silly songs that will probably get stuck in your head. I was particularly impressed when I learned that Will Ferrell did all of his own singing, it was surprisingly not as bad as I was expecting.

This movie is rated PG-13 for crude sexual material including full nude sculptures, some comic violent images, and language. If you can look past some of the crude sexual material and language, this isn’t a bad movie for families with older, teenage kids, it would be inappropriate for young viewers however. 

“Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” is a fun, mindless comedy that is enjoyable for families with older teenagers or a group of friends. Some of the humor goes a little overboard and the plot is very simple and predictable. If you are a fan of Will Ferrell’s style of humor, I think you will really enjoy this movie and it’s definitely worth the watch. I will probably watch this again if I’m bored and I’m in the mood for a mindless comedy worth a few laughs and some surprisingly catchy songs. It earns 3 out of 5 stars.