The Movie:

The cheesy spectacle of the Eurovision Song Contest gets a gentle ribbing in Cupcakes, a breezy comedy from Israel. This one's about a group of disenchanted friends in Tel Aviv who are taken by surprise when their spontaneous living room jam becomes Israel's official selection for Europe's splashiest annual singing competition (called EuroSong here, presumably for legal reasons). Despite the glittery backdrop and campy soundtrack, this colorful, lightweight, cliche-filled yet entertaining flick is mostly about the value of friendship. Sweet!

Top-loaded with six main characters who all have equal placement in the plot, Cupcakes can be a little confusing at first - there's a lot of fun to be had, however, once their distinct personalities get settled in. The clique consists of five women and one man, all at different ages yet going through various stages of disillusionment. Although they have names - and the costume designer amusingly keeps them distinct by having them wear clothing in a signature color - mostly I kept track of them based on the famous person each actor resembled.

Although the clique in Cupcakes have distinct lives, they're united every year by a ritual viewing of the televised EuroSong Contest hosted by their ringleader, flamboyant schoolteacher Ofer (the Eric Stoltz-ish Ofer Shechter). As explained by narrator Keren (Anna Kendrick lookalike, Keren Berger), a brainy blogger who is taking online lessons to eliminate the lisp in her voice, this year's gathering is tinged with sadness. The mother hen of the group, successful baker Anat (Anat Waxman, who might be the sister of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg), has become despondent over her husband putting an end to their decades-long marriage. The others take notice of Anat's bummed-out mood, despite arriving at the party with cupcakes decorated with the flags of each of the EuroSong competing countries. A solution to rid Anat of her blues is whipped up by the group's sole musician, lesbian folksinger Efrat (Efrat Dor, made up to resemble Taylor Dayne circa 1988). Strumming her guitar, Efrat comes up with a hasty "everything's gonna get better" tune, with Ofer, Keren, Dana (Dana Ivgy, a Sarah Silverman twin) and Yael (Yael Bar Zohar, a Heather Graham/Baby Spice hybrid) joining in the chorus.

Upset over the lameness of his country's current EuroSong entry, Ofer decides (without his friends' knowing) to submit a video of the cheer-up ditty to the Israeli judging committee. When the song gets surprisingly selected as the official entry for the next competition, it forces Ofer and the others to re-evaluate their own self confidence and relationships. It affects not just Anat and her no-good husband - the exposure prompts Yael to stop being so deferential to her lawyer boss/lover (Lior Ashkenazi). Meanwhile, Dana cedes to her controlling boss (Sarit Vino-Elad), a high-profile government official, reluctantly agreeing that being in a cheesy singing group detracts from the plans she and her uptight father have mind (which differ from what Dana wants for herself). Before planning the group's EuroSong takeover, Ofer must reveal to the others that he's been dating Asi (Alon Levi), a local hummus commercial celebrity and the closeted son of food industry titans. Got all that? There's also some tension with the EuroSong committee attempting to make the group over to match the campy, beglittered image of previous entrants, but Ofer and the gang manage to come to the final competition in Paris with their dignity intact.

Cupcakes is every bit as lightweight and predictable as it looks, yet the movie handles an appealing cast of characters and its "outrageous" vibe with sass. Eurovision fans will enjoy the script's many references to past winners, and Israel's spotty history with the singing contest (to be fair, they did contribute one fantastic winner, in 1998 - "Diva" by the transgendered performer Dana International). Released in 2013, the movie came as a departure for its director and co-screenwriter, Eytan Fox. Cupcakes doesn't share too much in common with his previous film, 2011's Yossi (except for versatile actor Lior Ashkenazi, who appears in both). Seeing the two films side-by-side proves that Fox is capable of both compelling drama and slick, campy comedy.

The DVD:

Video

Cupcakes is given a crisp, clean, color-saturated 16x9 widescreen presentation on Strand Releasing's DVD. Despite the DVD format's lower resolution, the image looks suitably pristine and appealing. The transfer allows the colors to look vivid without getting too fussy, while the textures and shadows have a good depth. The visual components of this digitally shot feature are along the same lines as most current Hollywood product.

Audio

Spoken in Hebrew with some English passages, the disc's soundtrack is furnished with a solid 5.1 Surround mix. The track doesn't do too much as far as spaciousness is concerned, but it's a nice listen with an agreeable amount of fullness on the musical segments. The optional subtitles run through the entire film, including the English-language scenes (given the heavy accents, it comes in handy).

Extras

The sole extras are a Theatrical Trailer and a few previews for other, similar Strand Releasing products - The Way He Looks, Girlhood, Love At First Fight and Wetlands.

Final Thoughts

Color-saturated Israeli comedy Cupcakes turns the familiar misfits-make-good story trope into something different. It works two ways: as an engaging, loopy tribute to the Eurovision Song Contest, and as a feel-good ode to believing in yourself. Dare I say it? This is one tasty movie. Recommended.

Matt Hinrichs is a designer, artist, film critic and jack-of-all-trades in Phoenix, Arizona. Since 2000, he has been blogging at Scrubbles.net. 4 Color Cowboy is his repository of Western-kitsch imagery, while other films he's experienced are logged at Letterboxd. He also welcomes friends on Twitter @4colorcowboy.