Will Ferrell’s spoof can’t get a handle on camp and misses a vital point: Eurovision already does a fine
Job making fun of itself
The terrible sadness at the heart of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of
fire Saga is that the film just doesn’t get Eurovision. Almost all other discussion of the movie’s qualities is immaterial; the central question at the heart of an enterprise such as this has to be how successful it is in depicting the greatest annual entertainment ceremony of all time. At stake: nothing less than the very concept of European identity.
The omens are bad when you look at the creative team. Admittedly Will Ferrell has form in this sort of caper (the closest parallel in his body of work would be 2007’s Blades of Glory, which similarly riffs on a closed-off, fanatical competition with arcane rules, glittery costumes and homo-eroticism a-go-go). Ferrell’s fame, Americanness and straightness mean that the film, in aiming for a mainstream
comedy audience, misses the boat on campness. Of course, heterosexuality isn’t always an impediment to understanding the Eurovision song contest; indeed, one recent winner, Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöw, is famously straight. But a deep understanding of, love for or personal investment in homosexuality certainly helps.