Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga – Movie Review

Hello Europe! 

This is Niamh calling! As many of you are aware Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga raided our Netflix accounts on June 26th. I can already hear the questions… Niamh, why are you writing about it now? Maybe… What’s Eurovision? Or, collectively you sang JåJå Ding Dong! *begins to dance* 

Well my dear readers, some of you may be aware that I am a massive Eurovision Fan to the point I follow the competition year round! So, when the movie dropped on Netflix, I watched it the first time with low expectations. Why? Because I have come to learn over the years that, when something you are passionate about becomes a movie be it a book or even a song contest, stuff will not translate well on the big screen. 

Spoiler, I was pleasantly surprised with how the film turned out. I’ve watched it a further two times to make sure my list was accurate. If you haven’t heard of Eurovision let me give you a brief summary: 

Lars and Sigrit; two friends from Iceland finally have their dreams answered when they are chosen to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest! They are truly Iceland’s last hope! Will they rise to the challenge or, embarrass themselves and Iceland in front of the entirety of Europe? Or, will a fellow contest, Alexander Lemtov cause a rift between these life-long friends before they make it to the final? 

3 Things Eurovision Fans will love: 

1. The Song Along Sequence: Anyone who has watched the Eurovision in recent years, keep your eyes peeled during this part of the movie. You may just pinpoint a few familiar faces from Eurovision in recent years!

2. Dan Stevens character: One of the highlights of the movie for me. Playing the “bad guy” in plain sight was just comical and yes I do think he looks FABULOUS in all of his outfits during this movie!  

3. The Soundtrack: The highlight of the entire movie… the Soundtrack! Some stunningly beautiful vocals mashed in with some rather interesting lyrics! My overall favourite was “Double Trouble” followed by “Husavik (Hometown)”. Fun fact before you Google it. Rachel McAdams did some of the singing but most of her vocals are from Molly Sandén. Look her up on Spotify, just trust me!

3 Things you will roll their eyes at: 

1. The Venue: Any true Eurovision fans will have sat up a bit straighter when they found out Scotland was the host of Eurovision 2020!!! Let’s be real the UK haven’t won it in years (like ourselves here in Ireland). I felt it was a little far-fetched but the scenery was stunning!

2. The fall flat love story: Like many viewers have already commented, the love story in the movie itself takes away from the main storyline instead of adding to it. Lars being incredibly selfish about his dream and not seeing how his behaviour damaged his friendship with his best friend let alone a romantic relationship was just taxing by the end of the movie. 

3. The repetitive jokes to try get a laugh: this comes down to one in particular for me… Will Ferrell’s character’s “junk size” being too small! When I say I could almost see the back of my eye sockets from rolling my eyes at how much they used that joke!

3 things to watch out for: 

1. The Fairies! Just yassss! I love some local folklore to spice up a subplot. 

2. I’ve gotten so used to seeing Dan Stevens in Downton Abbey so just forget about what he looked like in that. It took me 15 minutes to release it was him! (Not my finest moment!) 

3. The cast! Honestly between cameos from Demi Lovato and Eurovision past winners. Graham Norton because I love that man and Pierce Brosan to name a few the cast is pretty impressive before you get to the main characters of Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams and Dan Stevens. 

Overall it has its ups and downs but Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga will bring you on a journey you didn’t know you needed in 2020. Did it fill the Eurovision Void that was 2020? A little bit. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie but don’t go into it with high expectations. 

A solid 4/5 stars. It would have scored higher but, solely based on aspects falling flat within the Love Story and some of the humor just not being funny I personally couldn’t rate it any higher. Rachel McAdams and Dan Stevens stole the show for me personally. Give it a watch and let me know what you think or just go listen to the soundtrack! 

JåJå Ding Dong!