Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga: While its completely unknown to most Americans (myself included), The Eurovision Song Contest is a phenomenon in Europe, Israel and Australia. Basically, Eurovision is the Olympics of singing competitions where roughly 40 countries (almost exclusively from Europe) send an artist or group to perform an original song and after a massive 2 round live performance, a winner is crowned and subsequently gets to host the following year's contest as a reward. The notoriety of the contest paired with the good-natured goofiness that often occupies the performances made Eurovision the perfect subject matter for Will Ferrell's latest comedy. Ferrell, who co-wrote the script with frequent collaborator Andrew Steele, unsurprisingly has a good time goofing on the over-the-top pageantry and creating characters that are right at home in such an overtly absurd atmosphere (himself and Rachel McAdams as a bumbling Icelandic duo that unexpectedly qualifies for Eurovision, a scene-stealing Dan Stevens as a flamboyant Russian pop star who is favored to win), but the real driving force behind The Story of Fire Saga is the amount of admiration it has for the contest. Eurovision is a point of immense pride for each country that participates and The Story of Fire Saga conveys that with the pure joy and warmth it puts into the latter stages of the film when the contest itself is occurring. Coming out of a Ferrell-led project feeling moved was a pleasant surprise that ultimately helps The Story of Fire Saga overcome the slight problems it has in the length and laugh consistency departments.
Grade: B
My Spy: Whoever decided to market My Spy as a family movie might need to consider a move to the world of con artistry. Any belief that this was going to be some type of Pacifier/Game Plan "big tough guy gets softened up by being forced to deal with kids" flick is shattered in the opening scene which features a decently high body count and an unexpected joke about Mickey Rourke's notoriously awful Russian accent in Iron Man 2. The reality is that My Spy is a not particularly soft PG-13 spy buddy comedy that just happens to be centered around a CIA agent (Dave Bautista) and the father/daughter-esque relationship he develops with a 9-year old girl (Chloe Coleman, best known for playing Zoe Kravitz's daughter on Big Little Lies) who quickly blows up the covert surveillance operation him and his tech partner (the always funny Kristen Schaal) are running on her mother (Parisa Fitz-Henley). Regardless of the age-appropriateness of its content, My Spy uses a convincing central relationship, clever humor and Bautista's winning combination of charisma and willingness to make fun of himself to create an entertaining romp that generates laughs and charm with equal efficiency. There's no guarantee I'm going to remember a lot of it come December, but it's a fun movie that further proves Bautista's worth as an actor.
Grade: B
Desperados: Nasim Pedrad deserved better than this for her first starring role. Desperados blindly follows the Netflix throwaway R-rated romantic comedy playbook that the likes of Ibiza and The Wrong Missy have used in the past by throwing gross out humor, slightly annoying characters and bits of sweetness into a blender with reliably hit-or-miss results. The only time Desperados bucks this erratic formula is when Pedrad shares scenes with her old TV husband Lamorne Morris. Their chemistry from New Girl remains fully in tact even after a couple years apart and there's a comedic spark present between them that just never really ignites in the portions of the movie where they're not together. Hopefully Pedrad will get another chance to lead a project that better showcases her underrated comedic gifts very soon.
Grade: C+
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