Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Review

by Jerry Saravia (faust668 AT msn DOT com)
January 18th, 2007
TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY (2006)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
RATING: Three stars

NASCAR and comedy don't always mesh. Yet, somehow, Will
Ferrell has surprised me. "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby"
is good fun, partly because of a fine script and a willing comic
leading man. I wouldn't say it is as good as "Anchorman" but
it does have its virtues.

Will Ferrell is Ricky Bobby, an aspiring North Carolina NASCAR
driver who always has a need for speed. His father (Gary Cole)
taught him that, and he has applied it to his daily life. One day,
Ricky Bobby gets the chance as a last-minute replacement on
the Talladega Speedway, though his racing methods are a little
rickety. Nevertheless, he becomes a racing champion, gets a
trophy wife (Leslie Bibb), has sons named after the Chuck Norris
TV show, "Walker, Texas Ranger," and glories in his fame with
endless promotional sponsors. Bobby unfortunately starts to lose
his marbles. He gets into a wreck where he literally gets naked
and thinks he's on fire ("Save me Tom Cruise!") Bobby becomes
delusional, thinking he's become paralyzed. He is no longer the
prince of NASCAR - the title is taken by his French competitor
(hilariously played by Sacha Baron Cohen of "Borat" fame). Bobby
gets a job as a bicycle pizza delivery boy, loses his wife to his best
friend, Cal (John C. Reilly), and lives with his sons in
his mother's trailer. Of course, the competitive drive is never truly
lost in Ricky Bobby - he'd rather be first than last.

Some aspects don't work in this film. For one, "Talladega Nights"
is long-winded and not as demented in its satire and spoof potential
as "Anchorman" (both are from the same writer-director Adam
McKay, who co-wrote the script with Ferrell). Bobby's relationship
to his father doesn't seem necessary, including scenes where
they have trite heart-to-heart talks. Speaking of one too many
laps around the narrative speedway, a fruitless new romantic
interest (thanklessly played by "Junebug" actress Amy Adams)
is simply marking time.

The best scenes are with Reilly as Bobby's friend who stabs him
behind the back by moving into his life - Bobby refuses to talk to
him yet keeps calling him anyway. Also priceless are the scenes
with Cohen's existentialist, macchiato-sipping, gay French driver,
Jean Girard - I love the moment where Girard and Bobby's lips
almost meet. And who can forget this funny Ricky Bobby exchange:
"'Highlander' won the Oscar...for the best movie ever made."

The racing scenes are spectacular (one can only speculate how
much CGI was used), the ratio of funny to unfunny gags is higher
than expected but most importantly - Ferrell has a gift for making us
care about his loopy characters. It is a rare gift in comedy nowadays
and one has to salute Ferrell for giving it 100% effort.

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