Show notes
I just have to go ahead and admit I don’t understand Will Farrell. I still like him but I don’t get him. He is awesome at what he does, until he isn’t. In the last 10 or so years he’s way more isn’t than is. He had a strong run with some great movies with a few bombs in between. If you look over his career and count the good verse the bad his good ones are about 1 in 4. So basically 25% of his movies are really good, and 75% range from iffy to horrible. I used to excuse his bad movies by saying he is fearless when it comes to comedy, and that he is not afraid to take chances. That is no longer an excuse. The great movies he made shows his potential, and it shows that he knows what is funny. Sadly this Eurovision thing is not going to be his comeback movie.
The movie is based on The Eurovision Song contest they have every year. The movie opens up in 1974 in Husavik Iceland a small fishing village. Everyone has gathered to watch the contest. There is actual footage of Abba performing in the contest that they won singing Waterloo.
A young boy named Lars is captivated by the show and vows to his friends and family that he is going to win that contest someday. He is joined in his adventure by a childhood friend named Sigrit. We fast forward many years and Lars, played by Will Farrell, and Sigrit, played by Rachel McAdams, are singing some crazy song called Volcano Man. Lars’ dad played by Pierce Brosnan comes in and tells them to be quiet and tells Lars that he is wasting his life and not only has no chance to win the contest, but he will never amount to anything. Lars’ entire life is devoted to winning that contest, and Sigrit’s entire life is devoted to Lars. But alas, her love for Lars is not reciprocated. This is impressed upon us every time someone asks if they are brother and sister Lars replies “more than likely not”, and Sigrit says “absolutely not!” This is a running joke, which becomes endearing more than funny along the way. A series of events, and not their singing talent, gets them to the tryouts, where everything that could go wrong, does go wrong.
But they manage to get to the finals via a weird stroke of luck. Which is one of the funnier moments in the movie.
The movie is a really long 2 hours and 3 minutes. It’s Rated PG-13 for crude sexual material and some violent images, along with language.
I think when Farrell was writing this he envisioned Blades of Glory but it doesn’t come close. First, not many Americans are familiar with the Eurovision Song contest. B. The actual contest is so over the top with elaborate costumes and such it is already a satire of itself. It would be like making a movie about the bad singers they used to show on American Idol. It’s really hard to be ironic about something that is already ironic. There are a couple of huge production numbers that contain actual winners of past Eurovision competitions.
The movie can’t decide if Lars and Sigrit can sing or not. They are supposed to be horrible, but then they are not. Lars’ terrible accent seems to come and go, and I’m not sure if it’s on purpose or if he is just lazy and wanted to get it over with. I know I did.
My Score: 2 Buds
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