OVP: Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)

Film: Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)

Stars: Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams, Dan Stevens, Mikael Persbrandt, Pierce Brosnan, Demi Lovato, Graham Norton

Director: David Dobkin

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Original Song-"Husavik")

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

The Oscars are this weekend, which historically means I am desperately trying to get all of the reviews I've been sitting on from the ceremony onto the blog, but in true pandemic fashion (where we're actually changing our behaviors & not just talking about it), I'm caught up on all of my 2020 reviews, and am sitting on none of them.  I am not, however, done with all of my OVP viewings from 2020, and so last night I added to the To Do list by watching a few more Oscar-cited works from 2020-21.  I doubt I finish the 2020 OVP entirely this weekend (though it's possible that I get it done by the end of April, thus putting it into our ballot rotation), but we'll at least have 2-3 more films coming onto the blog in the next three days as we close out the longest Oscar race in over 80 years.

(Spoilers Ahead) I am American, and will admit to a blind spot when it comes to the Eurovision contest each year (there's a recurring joke in the movie about how Americans have no concept of how big this is, and I would be under that umbrella), I am familiar enough to know that it's a song contest pitting all of the countries of the continent against each other.  In this case, winning it is the dream of both Lars (Ferrell) and Sigrit (McAdams), who have spent years being mocked in their small town of Husavik, Iceland, for pursuing this endeavor with little success.  Through a series of accidents (which includes a crew of murdered singers aboard an exploding boat), they end up being Iceland's representatives.  While they are talented (particularly Sigrit...McAdams singing voice is dubbed by performer Molly Sanden), they make fool's of themselves, which causes them to split up...though they still make the finals, where they decide to sing one of Sigrit's songs, forfeiting their chances at winning but ultimately finding each other.

Eurovision doesn't work as a cohesive movie.  Ferrell & McAdams are missing chemistry, and that might have more to do with Ferrell at this point.  He's spent almost twenty years playing cartoonish versions of the same person with lessening results, and while there are moments his comic timing comes in handy (I liked, at least initially, his valid criticisms of American tourists trying to "experience" Europe), the film is too long & they get lost.  This is the kind of character he has made a career playing, but it's so ridiculous that it doesn't resonate with some of the more meaningful themes the film brings to the picture, especially toward its emotional climax.

But bad movies still have good elements, and this one has two.  For starters, there's the Oscar-nominated song that serves as its climax.  "Husavik" might not stand alone as a great piece of music, but when they give out Oscars, they should do so because it's good music and because the film uses it well, which this does (in a year where it's the only song that isn't an end credits tune).  It's incredibly moving (I sobbed both times I've watched it today), particularly the intense pride the Icelandic audience takes as the film alternates between English and Icelandic.  It works so well that I think this is the right choice for the Oscars on Sunday, and honestly it's possible if enough people see this movie it could upset.

The other best thing about this is Dan Stevens, who is in a completely different movie than everyone else.  Playing his handsome, closeted Russian pop star with reckless abandon, I was enamored.  He has chemistry with everyone, is constantly milking every line reading...some might have found this over-the-top, but I think it fit perfectly with the mood of the film, not leaning on past ideas of him.  In a lot of ways it reminds me of the way that Jason Statham totally upended his public persona with Spy (albeit he did it in a much better movie), skewering both the Eurovision contest & also finding its cotton candy.  If the entire movie had had this sort of commitment, we might have been in for an uproarious, play-on-repeat comedy.  Alas, we are left with too much bloating (but the perfect amount of "Husavik").