Summary

The review of "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" acknowledges the film's humor and touching moments, while noting its typical Will Ferrell-style long stretches of discomfort and the balance provided by Rachel McAdams' performance.

Abstract

The film "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga," starring Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams, is a comedic venture that, while following the familiar pattern of Ferrell's comedies—mixing laughter with cringe-worthy moments—manages to deliver unexpected heartfelt scenes. The reviewer, initially skeptical, found the movie surprisingly engaging, maintaining interest from start to finish. The pairing of Ferrell with McAdams is seen as a strategic move, with McAdams' character and performance providing a lifeline during less humorous parts. The film, produced by Gary Sanchez Productions, is self-aware and plays with audience expectations, such as using a stuffed tiger in place of a live one for comedic effect. The review commends the vocal performance, despite it being a blend of McAdams' voice with that of singer Molly Sandén, and overall deems the movie a successful family film with a satisfying conclusion.

Opinions

The film's title, "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga," is considered cumbersome but humorously acknowledged in the review.
Will Ferrell's comedic style is recognized as a source of both humor and discomfort, with the latter sometimes overshadowing the former.
Rachel McAdams is credited with keeping the film afloat during its less funny moments, and her pairing with Ferrell is seen as a smart choice.
The Gary Sanchez Productions logo is an indicator of the type of humor to expect, with a nod to the company's previous work and its characteristic comedic approach.
The use of accents in the film, reminiscent of the Swedish chef, is half the humor, and the running joke about American tourists is well-received.
The belief in elves by McAdams' character adds to the film's whimsy and provides some of the best jokes.
The reviewer appreciates the touching scenes towards the end of the film, which balance out the dry spells between laughs.
The vocal performance, a synthesis of McAdams' voice with that of Molly Sandén, is praised for its quality.
The reviewer is uncertain about watching the film again, suggesting that its humor might be more appreciated on repeat viewings or could induce a descent into insanity.
Will Ferrell's delivery of absurd lines is highlighted as a strong point, with a specific joke about swimming in the cold ocean being mentioned as particularly enjoyable.

Will Ferrell’s Eurovision Starts Out Funny and Becomes Kind of Touching

Review of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

Screenshot from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga trailer 0:24

How do you solve a problem like Will Ferrell? Every time you sit down to watch one of his films, you kind of wince. You know you’ll laugh a little bit, but you also know you’ll be condemned to long stretches of uncomfortable misery. Some of those will also be funny, but probably not enough of them.

That’s more or less what you’re going to get with Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, and since that lumbering phrase is what the filmmakers decided on for the title, that’s what I’m going to use every time I mention Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Not so funny now eh Will Ferrell?

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga does make the very smart move of pairing Ferrell with Rachel McAdams, she keeps the film afloat during the dark spells, although you never quite get used to the drop off when the camera pans back over to Will.

Family film?

We turned on Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga on a rainy afternoon mainly because my wife doesn’t like it when I spend too much time clicking through videos to find something to watch. To be fair, the way Netflix blasts you with volume the second you hover over an image for more than a tenth of a second is truly irritating.

Early on in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, Ferrell and McAdams are dressed like Vikings, or something, as they belt out a completely ridiculous techno song and stomp around in front of waterfalls and such. My kids were rolling on the floor laughing. I was too. We decided to give it five more minutes. Amazingly, we kept giving it five more minutes all the way to the final credits.

Gary Sanchez productions

Like Casa de Mi Padre, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga is a creation of Gary Sanchez productions. I’m just discovering now that Gary Sanchez is actually the name of Will Ferrell’s personal production company.

The second you see the Gary Sanchez logo, you kind of know what you’re getting into. In Casa de Mi Padre, there was a large section that was supposed to involve a white tiger, but the production ran out of money so they used a cheap stuffed tiger. I thought it was funny, and it’s a lot funnier when you watch a movie like this with somebody who thinks it’s not funny at all.

The accents

Of course, half the humor of this film is that Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams put on something that approximates an Icelandic accent. Actually they sound more like the Swedish chef. There’s also a running joke where Ferrell berates a bunch of American tourists and tells them how much he hates them with a big smile on his face.

“Go back to Starbucks!”

“Where is the Starbucks?”

“Anywhere you look!”

Americans do deserve to be berated like this at all times.

The elves

Another running joke is that Rachel McAdams’s character believes in elves and goes out to present them with offerings at a cute little elf house structure thing. She prays to them for good fortune, and the best joke comes later in the movie when Rachel McAdams worries that ‘The elves went too far.’ Fortunately for us, before the movie is over we find out the elves still have farther to go.

Kind of touching

The thing about Will Ferrell movies is that he’s basically always a lovable idiot, and the movies are entertaining provided you continue to find him lovable. However, sometimes the shenanigans that his characters get into are so obviously self-inflicted, or come as the result of such basic personality flaws, that you kind of start rooting against him. Ferrell was smart to tie himself to McAdams in this film because you’ll keep hoping for the best for her, even if it mean some of the benefit will also rub off on him.

There are long, dry spells between laughs in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, but towards the end they start to get sprinkled with some touching scenes. For the record, it’s not McAdams’s voice you hear, but a studio created synthesis involving her voice, the voice of a singer named Molly Sandén and some heavy mixing. It sounds good, that’s all that matters. The conclusion is satisfying, and this movie mostly works as a family film.

Will I ever watch it again?

I’m not really sure I could stand to sit through Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga for a second viewing. I guess it’s possible if one of my friends with no sense of humor came over and I really wanted to irritate him. Sometimes these Will Ferrell movies get funnier on repeat viewings. I’m not sure if it’s because you anticipate the jokes, or because you have slowly begun to descend into insanity.

Oh, I like the joke where Ferrell gestures to the ocean and says, “I was swimming in there, it’s really cold.” In all fairness, nobody in the history of cinema has ever been better at delivering that kind of absurd line. That’s something I guess.