Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams Are Vaguely European in First Trailer for Netflix’s Eurovision Song Contest

By Jim Vorel  |  June 11, 2020 | 10:10am
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Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams Are Vaguely European in First Trailer for Netflix’s Eurovision Song Contest
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There’s no denying that the Eurovision Song Contest does present itself nicely for parody. The annual, incredibly overproduced competition has been bringing together amusingly dressed pop bands for more than 50 years at this point, so it’s almost surprising that it’s taken this long for a major American comedy to lampoon the whole thing … and possibly reveal a little bitterness about our country’s lack of inclusion.

Netflix will be trying to do exactly that with upcoming comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, set for release on June 26, 2020. In an odd twist of fate, the film will essentially be replacing the actual Eurovision contest this year, as they were scheduled to appear simultaneously. The contest, unsurprisingly, has been canceled for 2020 due to coronavirus concerns.

The Story of Fire Saga stars Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams as Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdottir, longtime musical partners from Iceland who finally realize their dream of attending and competing for their country in the annual Eurovision Song Contest. One major thing would appear to be standing in the way, though: A conspicuous lack of talent. The tone looks goofy and lighthearted, very much in Ferrell’s wheelhouse, although this is somewhat more novel territory for McAdams. The film also stars Pierce Brosnan as Ferrell’s perpetually disappointed father, and a voracious-looking Dan Stevens as an antagonist and fellow performer, Alexander Lemtov.

As far as all the Euro jokes are concerned … the trailer feels a bit flat? For all of its decades of history, the Eurovision contest still doesn’t seem to be all that well known to the average American, so one has to wonder if this is a film that might ultimately play better overseas. Still, if it can capture some satire of the same sort of performative fakeness that pervades American musical reality TV, perhaps it will be able to rise above simply a series of bad European accents. Or maybe it will be just as bad as Holmes & Watson!

Check out the first trailer for Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga below.

 
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