EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: The Story Of Fire Saga

expectationlost · 12-06-2020 3:15pm #1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q6Co-nd0lM

When aspiring musicians Lars (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit (Rachel McAdams) are given the opportunity of a lifetime to represent their country at the world’s biggest song competition, they finally have a chance to prove that any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for.

like Will Ferrell and its great to see Rachel McAdams doing comedy but its seems a little forced. Graham Norton is in it.

yerwanthere123 · 12-06-2020 3:16pm

As a pretty hardcore Eurovision fan, I'm looking forward to this. Hope they don't take the piss *too* much though

TheIrishGrover · 13-06-2020 8:56pm

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

As a pretty hardcore Eurovision fan, I'm looking forward to this. Hope they don't take the piss *too* much though

Is that possible?

JP Liz V1 · 15-06-2020 12:32am

Is Jedward or Dustin in for any cameos?

touts · 15-06-2020 12:40am

Saw the Trailer on Netflix. If that's the best bits then I'll give it a miss. It looks like something dragged out of the bin in a 90s cutting room.

p to the e · 15-06-2020 9:28am

It makes "Holmes and Watson" look funny.

pixelburp · 16-06-2020 11:49am

I saw the trailer minus the sound; only got to watch it properly this morning. As I watched that first time I had thought: hmmm, Ferrell's going to be pulling a comedy Scandinavian accent, the jokes amounting to people declaring what's happening, or "hey, these guys are so krazee & weird!". I hate being right

Said it in the Netflix thread, but this entire premise feels redundant: the Eurovision long ago reckoned with its outsized, camp and farcical nature. It practically revels in it, a big communal guilty pleasure. A film being silly with that inherent silliness doesn't make sense IMO. What's the joke here?

Sad Professor · 16-06-2020 2:08pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Said it in the Netflix thread, but this entire premise feels redundant: the Eurovision long ago reckoned with its outsized, camp and farcical nature. It practically revels in it, a big communal guilty pleasure. A film being silly with that inherent silliness doesn't make sense IMO. What's the joke here?

Agreed - the Eurovision is beyond satire or being pocked fun at. If they were going to make a movie about it they should have gone the opposite direction and made it ultra sincere. However, perhaps most American viewers aren't that familiar with it

Dades · 18-06-2020 10:40am

Just because the Eurovision doesn't take it self seriously doesn't mean the affected Eurotrash accent isn't hilarious to listen to for two hours.

The trailer doesn't promise much if that's the greatest hits, but I'd watch it just for Dan Stevens who can do no wrong in my book.

Seamai · 18-06-2020 10:59am

Sad Professor wrote: »

Agreed - the Eurovision is beyond satire or being pocked fun at. If they were going to make a movie about it they should have gone the opposite direction and made it ultra sincere. However, perhaps most American viewers aren't that familiar with it

As another hardcore ESC fan, (I think it might have something to to do with my parents watching Gigliola Cinquetti win in 1964 outside a TV store on Patrick St in Cork while my mum was pregnant with me) I have huge reservations about letting Americans within an asses roar of the contest.

TheIrishGrover · 18-06-2020 11:23am

Sad Professor wrote: »

Agreed - the Eurovision is beyond satire or being pocked fun at. If they were going to make a movie about it they should have gone the opposite direction and made it ultra sincere. However, perhaps most American viewers aren't that familiar with it

I want to see a version where America is invited and we follow Christian Bale playing Bob Dylan. Wanting to be the first person to win Grammy, Oscar, Nobel Prize AND Eurovision. The whole movie is played deadpan about his serious work on trying to write a song that unites the world.... EVEN Trump America

** only for the very last scene to be him arriving at the contest and seeing what it is. Seeing him turn to the cameraman and go "What the fu......." Crash cut to black screen where a title card fades in:

America came 3rd after Greece with "La la la la everyone loves, let's go" and Ukraine's "I am fire lion. Hear me roar". The Whitehouse has stated that they will no longer fund the failing Eurovision Song Contest.

** We all know that this is pointless as Bill and Ted have already written/will write this...

Busi_Girl08 · 26-06-2020 11:17pm

The accents were dodgy, the songs were cheesy (some good ones though if you like Eurovision). But it had heart, some good jokes, Ferrell and McAdams are great together, was good craic and I enjoyed every minute of it

chrislad · 27-06-2020 8:44am

We watched it last night too. I found it a bit dull for the first 30 mins but it picked up and I really enjoyed it by the end. McAdams was excellent and was used well. Dan Stevens was very good too, and Will Ferrell wasn’t too OTT. Definitely worth a watch.

titan18 · 27-06-2020 2:32pm

I really enjoyed it. Liked the song along and Ja Ja Ding Dong in particular

El Gato De Negocios · 27-06-2020 2:33pm

Will Ferral deserves to be shot with a cannon full of his own shyte, about as funny (to me) as childhood cancer.

Darc19 · 27-06-2020 2:36pm

Busi_Girl08 wrote: »

The accents were dodgy, the songs were cheesy (some good ones though if you like Eurovision). But it had heart, some good jokes, Ferrell and McAdams are great together, was good craic and I enjoyed every minute of it

I think you summed it up perfectly.

Not a film to be taken seriously. It's harmless and easy viewing with a decent number of laughs

gmisk · 27-06-2020 8:35pm

Darc19 wrote: »

I think you summed it up perfectly.

Not a film to be taken seriously. It's harmless and easy viewing with a decent number of laughs

I am a huge eurovision song contest fan. It's kind of beyond parody.

It was silly fun I enjoyed it but it was far too long. Not exactly a laugh riot by any means but quite a few giggles. Geography of Europe was not a strong point... Dan Stevens and Rachel McAdams (Molly Sanden what a voice) were both excellent I thought.
Some of the songs were spot on tbh, I thought running with the wolves was a bit of a tune lol.
Would have loved a full version of volcano man!
Sweden would come up with something better in real life though

.

I will say it was hugely distracting as half the cast were in trapped (which is excellent).
6/10

Ray Donovan · 27-06-2020 8:51pm

What films was Will Ferrell genuinely funny in...?

Anchorman
Wedding Crashers
And really funny in Old School.

Is that about it?

gmisk · 27-06-2020 9:01pm

Ray Donovan wrote: »

What films was Will Ferrell genuinely funny in...?

Anchorman
Wedding Crashers
And really funny in Old School.

Is that about it?

Elf
Zoolander
Blades of Glory

razorblunt · 27-06-2020 9:52pm

gmisk wrote: »

Elf
Zoolander
Blades of Glory

The Other Guys is brilliant.

It had potential but it was really poor, second half was a bit of improvement and seemed to be where more of the proper laughs were.

Brosnan, and Dan Stevens were brilliant.

Rachel McAdams is just gorgeous.

pixelburp · 27-06-2020 10:00pm

Will Ferrell is a talented funny guy but I think prone to laziness, for want of a better word. Like a lot of super popular Hollywood comedy stars he has a schtick and sometimes ploughs it into the ground; there's a lot of stuff I've watched that just feels like he's in second gear, giving the script just enough to get a chuckle or two. I always thought The Other Guys was that second gear, compared with something like Anchorman.

I don't blame Ferrell for this I might add, just feels part of mainstream Hollywood comedy. There's a style that's bank, and the studios knock it out without necessarily putting on constraints or asking much of its stars. Melissa McCarthy made a career out of never getting out of that second gear or trying too hard. Both comedians also showing great depth when given the latitude to star in more dramedy or full drama vehicles

Wombatman · 27-06-2020 10:07pm

gmisk wrote: »

Elf
Zoolander
Blades of Glory

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

27-06-2020 10:09pm

Ray Donovan wrote: »

What films was Will Ferrell genuinely funny in...?

Anchorman
Wedding Crashers
And really funny in Old School.

Is that about it?

eh, old school , Frank the Tank

titan18 · 27-06-2020 10:38pm

gmisk wrote: »

Elf
Zoolander
Blades of Glory

I think Step Brothers and Talladega Nights are good too. I think he starts getting lazy then. The other guys and The Campaign have moments but not as good as the mid to late 00s stuff and then it's a lot of meh to crap stuff after that

TCDStudent1 · 27-06-2020 10:54pm

I enjoyed it a lot too. A bit slow at the start but got going after the wheel incident. McAdams in particular was superb.

Dtp1979 · 27-06-2020 11:00pm

I thought the movie was nearly over when the voting came in. Then I realised it was only the semi finals!!
Enjoyable movie

theteal · 27-06-2020 11:01pm

Went in with really low expectations and must admit I enjoyed it. Maybe a bit long but there are a few laughs in there. A big cheese-fest as expected given the subject matter. At one point I feared they were going to directly/completely rip off the Fr. Ted episode

TCDStudent1 · 27-06-2020 11:09pm

theteal wrote: »

Went in with really low expectations and must admit I enjoyed it. Maybe a bit long but there are a few laughs in there. A big cheese-fest as expected given the subject matter. At one point I feared they were going to directly/completely rip off the Fr. Ted episode

I had exactly the same fear when the bank guy was talking early on!!!

Beersmith · 27-06-2020 11:21pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

eh, old school , Frank the Tank

Eh they said old school

Fysh · 28-06-2020 12:53am

Overall, daftly enjoyable in a similar sense to Eurovision itself, though personally I think it would have benefitted from losing around 30 mins and ditching the accents.

Dan Stevens was an unexpected MVP - he's great in Legion but he put in a completely different (yet hugely entertaining) turn here. I was also pleasantly surprised at the pop song medley actually being pretty decent, as well as a couple of the faux competition songs (in a cheesy Eurovision way).

For context, I would say I only really rate Ferrell in the likes of Elf or Zoolander - I found Talladega Nights and Blades Of Glory way too dragged out with frequent stretches of "yes, I see what you're doing, but it's not funny and neither are the fifteen variations on the same joke that you've decided to do".

PsychoPete · 28-06-2020 2:08am

I enjoyed it, not overly funny it had its moments. Pretty harmless film. Cheesy music, exactly what you want from Eurovision. Nice to see a few familiar Eurovision faces making an appearance

Gruffalux · 28-06-2020 5:50pm

I watched it today as the rain howled down and I found it enjoyable, cheesy and had a grin on my face for a lot of it. I like Will Ferrell - he is a big old goof and his huge big odd face up close is hilarious all by itself. Rachel McAdams was brilliant. The Icelanders in their jumpers were all so endearing and dead pan. It is not a serious movie or an art piece but it is good craic.

Johner · 28-06-2020 6:53pm

Thought it was pretty good. Funny and the music was actually decent enough!

spurious · 28-06-2020 6:57pm

Little bit long, but quite amusing. Loved the medley of songs and the many cameos. Dan Stevens was great and the elves played a blinder.

spurious · 28-06-2020 6:58pm

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Is Jedward or Dustin in for any cameos?

No and I was surprised at that, none of them could be that expensive.

Outkast_IRE · 28-06-2020 7:00pm

Very enjoyable , just a few big laughs but most scenes were humourous and pushed along the plot nicely . It would be interesting to see what Americans make of it .

The music was actually better than the Eurovision most years .

Pang · 28-06-2020 7:02pm

I had very low expectations but actually enjoyed it.

I thought Dan Stevens was excellent. The comment

about Mother Russia not being accepting of him

felt poignant.

As a Eurovision fan,

the semi final with some of the big 5 in it and how the scores were done

made me mad but I loved the cameos from

Alexander Rybak, Conchita etc.

. The song a long was great!

Loved the Icelandic jumpers and Dan Stevens jacket at the party!

hmmm · 28-06-2020 8:21pm

Ah lads, the best Netflix movie I've seen so far. Probably too many in-jokes for someone who doesn't like the Eurovision, but if you do it is a really fun movie.

This one is going to have a 5/10 critic rating, and a 9/10 fan rating.

Sentimental in place, but without a cloying sentimentality. It's all gentle fun with some sharp edges in places. It's satire, but it isn't cruel towards its target - particularly the cameo song in the middle is just sweet rather than critical.

Basq · 28-06-2020 8:49pm

This was good fun, but definitely a half hour or so too long.

PsychoPete · 28-06-2020 9:00pm

I liked how aggressive Olaf was about jaja ding dong

Mad_maxx · 28-06-2020 9:20pm

wasnt great

Homelander · 28-06-2020 10:09pm

Just watched this having never even heard of it and thought it was great fun. Genuinely amusing, great musical numbers, and Dan Stevens is just phenomenal....totally steals the show.

If I had to complain, as much as I like Will Ferrell, he's a bit too classic Will Ferrell in this movie and it feels out of place a little too often when contrasted to the behavior of literally every other character.

But it's a good film with good heart. Probably the best Will Ferrell film in a long time actually. I didn't find it too long personally.

Thumbs up from me anyway.

TheIrishGrover · 29-06-2020 11:35am

Well.... It wasn't terrible. I know that sounds like I'm damning it with fain praise but it could hve been another Holmes and Watson as someone said previously.

It didn't do anything you didn't expect: Intentionally dodgy accents (Brosnan veering from Cork to Iceland. sometimes within the same word - don't know if that was intentional) and Ferrell doing his usual man-child thing.

I didn't laugh a lot but I smiled a bit at it. It was obviously done with its heart in the right place and with good attention to detail (The songs were 100% Eurovision). As expected, Dan Stevens steals the show with a surprisingly heartfelt turn at times

No, no. There are none in Russia. This is a known fact

I mean, yeah, it's not going to change the world but it's not going to end it either (Which was a possibility

)

dubstepper · 29-06-2020 12:05pm

I went in with low expectation, as some others, but it is actually decent. I had a fear that Ferrell would just way over the top on the campness of the Eurovision, but in fairness he didn't go for the easy shots. I mean it is hard to take the p*ss on the Eurovision as it is so over the top already.

It has a nice bit of heart to it and felt like the writers like the Eurovision rather than scoffing at it.

gazzer · 29-06-2020 1:35pm

Watched it last night (along with half the population going by Facebook). I really enjoyed it and I am not a massive Will Ferrell fan. The songs were really good. My god Husavik is an outstanding song. Reminded me of Never Enough from The Greatest Showman.

One line that I was in hysterics at was when

The boat blew up and Sigrit said "The elves have gone too far"

darced · 01-07-2020 12:21am

I think when people talk about movies with heart this is what they mean. Loads of flaws and completely stupid but I was grinning ear to ear at the end.

Rockbeast2 · 01-07-2020 9:31am

This started really well and was very funny for me until they arrived in Edinburgh, specifically from that very strange scene of the two sitting on a park bench and filmed from behind. After that it was more an odd chuckle film.

Ferrell was good but Rachel McAdams was fantastic. She really elevated what could have been a two-dimensional character to someone real. She's a really talented actress, possibly cursed by her stunning looks!

01-07-2020 10:40pm

play ja ja ding dong :mad:

pinkypinky · 01-07-2020 11:06pm

Pretty terrible and a bit long but I still enjoyed it.

completedit · 02-07-2020 12:18am

Thought it was so feel good. But the funniest parody of eurovision was the swedish presenters 4 years ago.

The song was fire.

alchemist33 · 02-07-2020 12:26am

Half an hour too long and too many penis jokes but still funny enough. The best part was when the wee door on the hillside slammed shut!

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: The Story Of Fire Saga

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