Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams team up as the duo Fire Saga in the musical comedy, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
Based on the real annual international song competition, Eurovision Song Contest, which pits contestants from different countries (mostly in Europe), in a competition for best original song, the film follows the duo of Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams collectively known as Fire Saga in their journey to joining and maybe winning the popular contest
Should you skip it or watch it? Read on this review to find out.
Ferrell+McAdams
Born and raised in a small fishing town in Húsavík, Iceland, Lars Erickssong (Ferrell) dreams of winning the Eurovision Song Contest ever since as a kid and with the help of his childhood friend(zoned) Sigrit Ericksdóttir (McAdams), the duo is finally given a chance to perform and qualify for the annual Eurovision Song Contest.
Yeah, I know what you are thinking. Ferrell’s Lars must be one crazy man to not fall in love with Sigrit played by Rachel McAdams. And you’re right! Lars is actually crazy, maybe. Then again, this movie is aiming just that.
Ferrell’s wit and charm is equally matched by McAdams comedy chops. It truly is a joy to watch the two. I was thinking hard how the pairing would work but from the minute both leads were in the same frame, I know they’ll be good.
Jaja Ding Dong
Directed by David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers, Clay Pigeons) who as you can see is no stranger to directing comedies, does a great work on this one along of course with the charming Dan Stevens (Alexander Lemtov) and Pierce Brosnan. Both actors play unusual roles with Stevens as a musical genius and Brosnan as Ferrell’s father. Yeah, I know. It’s kind of weird seeing the former James Bond playing the paternal figure and even weirder is that he is playing dad to Ferrell’s character.
What hooked me the most, however, are the songs. Well, this is the Eurovision Song Contest, after all and the songs should be great. And in that aspect, the film delivers. There are a lot of original songs featured in the film, all great.
But what would probably linger the longest in your head is the song “Jaja Ding Dong”. Written by songwriters Gustaf Holter and Christian Persson for the movie and dubbed as supposedly a traditional bar song in Iceland, Jaja Ding Dong will give you major “Last Song Syndrome (LSS)”. Its melody is just outrageously catchy and the lyrics which actually have some sexual innuendos in it are so fun it even eclipses Fire Saga’s original songs.
Skip or Watch?
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is exactly what you think it is – a comedy that will make you laugh. Hard. The pairing of Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams may seem like a strange decision to a lot of people but the resulting on-screen chemistry is just difficult to argue. Both leads clearly relish their roles.
There are not really a lot of flaws in the film except maybe being too long. But I’m sure none of you would really mind as this movie is ridiculously entertaining with its great punch lines and the LSS-inducing stupidly catchy songs.
VERDICT: WATCH!
Here is salida|etc’s rating for Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
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