Review: Musical wackiness of Will Ferrell's 'Eurovision' sometimes gets in the way of a sweet love story

Will Ferrell’s innate wackiness gets an international stage in “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga,” a goofy and scattershot comedy that tries to lovingly satirize something apparently impervious to satire: The Eurovision Song Contest.

Eurovision is one of those things, like soccer and Kylie Minogue, for which the rest of the world shares a deep fondness while most Americans have no clue. It’s an annual singing competition, started in 1956, in which one musical act from each participating country performs a hit single — big voices and campy theatrics are favored — with winners chosen by juries and fans worldwide. Only a few winners ever became superstars: Lulu (a co-winner in 1969), Katrina and the Waves (1997), Celine Dion (1988) and, most famously, ABBA in 1974, with their classic “Waterloo.”

It’s seeing ABBA on TV that fuels the dream of Lars Erickssong, a boy from the small fishing village of Husavik, Iceland. In adulthood, Lars (played by Ferrell), dreams of competing in the Eurovision Song Contest — earning him scorn from his fisherman father, Erick (Pierce Brosnan). His friend since childhood, Sigrid Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams), believes in Lars’ dream, and has a long-standing crush to which Lars is oblivious. Together, under the name Fire Saga, they play their synth-pop songs in hopes of someday competing at Eurovision.

The folks at Icelandic Public Television think the super-talented Katiana (Demi Lovato) will not only represent Iceland, but could win the whole contest — a prospect that worries one of the network’s board members, Victor (Michael Persbrandt), because he fears Iceland would be bankrupted by having to host next year’s contest. (Tradition holds that one year’s winning country is next year’s host.) However, in a twist of fate (and, perhaps, a nod to “The Producers”), Fire Saga ends up as Iceland’s entry.

The excitement of competing at Eurovision threatens to overwhelm our Icelandic heroes. Besides the pressure of performing, and surviving the mechanics of a big production number, there’s the intrigue brought by the competition. The favorite, the Russian showman Alexander Lemtov (played by “Downton Abbey” hunk Dan Stevens), starts flirting with Sigrit — while the sultry Greek entrant, Mita Xenakis (Melissanthi Mahut), has her eye on Lars.

Ferrell and co-screenwriter Andrew Steele (a writer on “Saturday Night Live” during Ferrell’s tenure there) try to cram too much into their script, and the bloated two-hour running time suffers for it. The parts about Lars and Sigrit, finding their musical voices and figuring out their feelings for each other, are delightfully earnest and quite sweet. The jokes about the contest itself, and the odd behavior of Icelanders (for example, Sigrit believes in elves), don’t wear as well.

Since the backdrop is a musical contest, director David Dobkin (who worked with McAdams making “Wedding Crashers”) amps up the song cues to a ferocious degree. Dobkin uses his music-video background (he’s made videos for Tupac Shakur, Elton John and Maroon 5 over the years) to make the Eurovision competitors as over-the-top as possible. And he borrows from the “Pitch Perfect” playbook for a lively impromptu sing-off that features several past Eurovision winners — though most Americans won’t recognize any of them.

Ferrell is funny — no surprise there — but he also brings a wide-eyed enthusiasm for the sincerity underneath the silliness of Eurovision. (Reportedly, he’s been a fan ever since his Swedish wife, then girlfriend, introduced him to it in 1999.) The movie filmed some parts backstage at last year’s competition in Tel Aviv (this year’s contest in Rotterdam was postponed to 2021 because of COVID-19), and the organizers seem happy to let Ferrell and company make fun of them. The real punchline, one that most Americans won’t get, is that what the movie treats as parody isn’t that far removed from the real contest.

McAdams shines brightest in “Eurovision,” though. She’s a strong comic foil for Ferrell, and a charming object of Lars’ affection — and, in the movie’s sweet finale, an artist finding her own voice. (Never mind that McAdams’ singing voice is dubbed, by Swedish singer Molly Sandén, once a Junior Eurovision competitor.) McAdams also brings out the romantic in Ferrell, and when the movie is focused on them, and not the spectacle of the competition, there’s some real magic at work.

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‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga’

★★1/2

Debuts Friday, June 26, streaming on Netflix. Rated PG-13 for crude sexual material including full nude sculptures, some comic violent images, and language. Running time: 122 minutes.