Lighthearted Fun That Goes On and On...

Rating: 5/10 (26 June 2020)

This movie i feel is two separate movies. It is one part a Romanic Comedy/love story and then the other is a Bizarre Eurovision parody/satire. And I feel like this movie gets in the way of it's self.
The most successful part for me was the Eurovision side. It just works better. It captures the silly, fun, cheesy aspects of the Eurovision Song Contest. People have been saying that this movie is "weird and bizarre" and I agree somewhat but I think it can take it self serious at times. It has flashes of bizarreness but then gets weighed down by other things. I think the best scene is at the big party where it is a huge "flash mod/singing medley". It is so strange but so fantastical.
The jokes...they are not that great. Some are like fine but others just don't land at all and to make it even worse you are forced to listen to them twice a lot of the time. Characters will constantly repeat a joke that has just left another characters lips seconds ago. I don't know if they thought it was so funny that we needed to hear it twice or if they just didn't want us to not hear it and miss out.
The songs are really good. They really capture that cheesy, over the top, fun energy of Eurovision. They could all pass as Eurovision songs but they are also tinged with humour so I really think they did a good job on them and someone really took the time to get that right.
The start of the movie is also very pretty with the shots of Iceland, it really makes you want to go and visit it.
Unfortunately this movie is also too long. 2 hours for a story that could have been told in 1 hour 20. I think they needed to trim it down and tighten it up. It also seems paced strange as there seems to be a few like climaxes where you think "oh it must be ending soon...oh no wait there is still 30 minutes left".
So you could watch it especially if you love Eurovision. You will find something you like about this movie.