THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA REVIEW: Eurovision shenanigans with Ferrell and McAdams…

Right song and dance: Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams

In the first moments of the film, a young boy is entranced by ABBA’s performance of “Waterloo” in the real-life 1974 Eurovision contest. (The event, which has been going on since 1956, calls for European countries to submit musical acts to compete.) when the adults around him laugh at his enthusiasm, he yells at them to cut it out. One day, he says, he’ll be the one performing on the Eurovision stage.

And that young blonde boy is…

He’s explored the glitzy flora and fauna of figure skating in Blades of Glory and stock car racing in Talladega Nights, so it was only a matter of time before someone pointed Will Ferrell in the direction of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Will plays Lars Erickssong from Iceland who wants nothing more than to win Eurovision.

And Lars has help, his singing partner, and band member, in Sigrit (Rachel McAdams), a shy music teacher who speaks to elves. As the duo Fire Saga, they perform in Will’s basement and to the rowdy bars of their tiny Icelandic fishing village.

Ferrell’s skill with goofy man-children is well-documented but this comedy should remind people of the underrated range of Rachel McAdams, who once again just nails a comedy role. Her timing is never off and often inspired.

More tribute, more parody, this slapstick comedy is a must for the long weekends in at the moment. It had just enough cheese and a  series of funny running gags — like our heroes being repeatedly mistaken for brother and sister or features murder by elf.

At the same time Ferrell, in multicolored cardigans and spandex onesies, makes Lars and irritating, egomaniacal distraction motherless man-child, but also a loveable character that still has a soul. And of course, Lars just want to gain respect from his disapproving father (Pierce Brosnan), Lars dreams of representing Iceland at Eurovision.

It’s easy to guess where the story is headed at any given time, and some of the jokes, from a script written by Ferrell and Andrew Steele, sometimes invite sighs rather than laughs. But when they perform, and further on during the film, the entire screen lights up with chemistry.

The cast is similarly committed, particularly McAdams, who has to sell Sigrit’s devotion to Lars (and her belief in elves) without making her out to be a complete fool. The highlight, however, is Dan Stevens’ performance as Alexander Lemtov, a Russian singer also competing in Eurovision. Lemtov is as theatrical as they come — his song, “Lion Of Love,” involves a lot of suggestive movement and shirt-ripping — and Stevens leans fully into the

Starring: Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Dan Stevens, Demi Lovato, Graham Norton, Jamie Demetriou, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Joi Johannsson, Jon Kortajarena, Melissanthi Mahut, Natasia Demetriou, Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Pierce Brosnan, Rachel McAdams, Tómas Lemarquis, Will Ferrell

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Like way too many modern comedies, “Eurovision Song Contest” is just too long. And there’s no reason for this movie to inch past two hours. But it does showcase that sense of pure, unironic joy is what makes Netflix’s new musical comedy Eurovision Song Contest a winning formula.

It has character, loads of singable songs and great, but if sometimes, annoying characters. To that end, Eurovision recalls movies like Mamma Mia! and The Greatest Showman.

But to interpret the entire feeling of watching the film and watching Eurovision when Culturedemandsgeeks was growing up, the film is a sweetly goofy and joyous take on something that means so much to all those wannabee singers,

4/5 STARS