(May Contain Spoilers)
I am not a huge fan of Will Ferrell films particularly, but when I saw this trailer I thought it could be something quite funny, and it was. I had seen mixed reviews of this, like I said Will Ferrell’s films can be like Marmite, but I think that this film is a feel-good musical that is NEEDED in times like this. I didn’t realise Rachel McAdams was in it, because she was WAY too photoshopped on the poster, but to be honest she is the one thing that made me tune in.
We start with Lars Erickssong (Will Ferrell) in his front room in Iceland with his family and family friends when ABBA comes on the screen on the Eurovision song contest. Lars jumps up and dances in front of the TV screen and Sigrit Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams) joins him. Years later the two childhood friends form a band and have the dream of performing at the Eurovision song contest. There is a committee in Iceland who chose who will represent the country, already settled on a pop star Katiana (Demi Lovato), they pick and mix another band to join and that happens to be Fire Saga.
On the committee is Victor (Mikael Persbrandt) who is worried how Iceland will manage economically if they win with Katiana as they have to host the following year, if they win. It then follows that at the after boat-party all the best pop stars in Iceland are blown up on a boat. This was later revealed to be Victor’s plan as he didn’t want the country to win and go into debt. However, Victor did not realise that Lars and Sigrit were not on the boat as Lars was upset about his performance during their act to get them onto the Eurovision. Now that all of the best pop stars have been blown up, Fire Saga are the only possible replacement and are sent to compete in Eurovision.
Meanwhile, we understand that Sigrit has feelings for Lars, but Lars does not want that to jeopardize the band. At the competition Sigrit meets Alexander Lemtov (Dan Stevens), who is competing for Russia, he is very seductive and has his eyes set on Sigrit, therefore invites Fire Saga to his mansion party. The party is very strange as you might imagine with a Pitch Perfect (2012) battle interlude where all the competitors sang known songs. An entertaining section to the film, which was random but fun in this Eurovision world. Fire Saga takes to the stage for their Eurovision semi-final performance, however one of Lars’s stunts go horribly wrong and he manages to damage half the crowd and the stage, but they get up and sing the final bars of their song.
Lars, out of embarrassment, runs away back to Iceland, however Sigrit stays and hears the results and not-so surprisingly they make it to the finale. Lars, now back in Iceland, hears the news late and by the time he hops on a flight back to the arena (in Edinburgh, Scotland) it is almost too late. Lars gets on stage mid performance and stops the show and gets Sigrit to sing a song she has written rather than the one he wrote, which they entered as their Eurovision song, this then meant they were disqualified from winning. Lars, however encourages this and Sigrit sings in Icelandic as well as English and hits a mythical high note, perfectly. It actually gave me goosebumps! Lars and Sigrit return to their lives in Iceland, but with a new-born baby together and perform at small town venues.
This film was beautifully orchestrated and had everything that you would want in this type of film. There were times where I did find myself laughing out loud at how absurd some moments were! I thought the film was thoroughly entertaining and think Ferrell and McAdams were magical together and would like to see this combo again! Additionally, I think they nailed the Eurovision vibe, although I have never fully watched it, I’ve seen snippets and I felt they encapsulated the vibe of the contest and that’s what I think makes it even more loveable. Funny, Absurd and Entertaining.
Stream now on Netflix.
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