Review of 'Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga'

In the small town of Húsavík, Iceland, childhood friends Lars (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit (Rachel McAdams) perform make music as the band “Fire Saga” but their music is not really appreciated by the locals including Lars' father Erick (Pierce Brosnan) who is particularly against what he sees as his son's foolish obsession. For all his life Lars has wanted to win the Eurovision Song Contest to the extent that he blind to the attraction of Sigrit. When they are randomly accepted to take part in the Icelandic selection contest for Eurovision their performance is an absolute disaster so they decline attending a party for the competitors. Their fortunes change when a freak accident kills everyone at the party so the Iceland Eurovision committee is forced to send “Fire Saga” to Edinburgh to compete. Lars and Sigrit are on their way to Eurovision…

Being a Will Ferrell film you would expect “The Story of Fire Saga” to be full of laughs but it is generally quite a calm sort of humour with the biggest laughs shown in the trailer. This is a kind-hearted send-up of the terrifically camp yearly Eurovision Song Contest that sees nominated groups from across Europe (and elsewhere) compete for the best song in Europe. Often the submissions are hilariously over the top or so depressingly awful it has attracted quite a cult following of millions. British fans will be pleased to see the appearance of their (real life) Eurovision MC comedian Graham Norton, himself often as camp as the competitors.

Understandably there is actually some fairly good music here including the performance of Waterloo by Abba at Eurovision which sparked Lars' desire at an early age to compete and win at the contest. There are several cameos by past Eurovision competitors which fans will delight in spotting.

A loving ode to the spirit of Eurovision to provide even the smallest country and smallest acts a vehicle for sharing their personalities and music with millions. A good bit of light-hearted fun which deserves to be seen by not only Eurovision fans…

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2022-05-08


Directed by: David Dobkin

Studio: European Broadcasting Union (EBU)

Year: 2020

Length: 123 minutes

Genre: Comedy

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8580274/