Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Directed by Adam McKay
Rated PG-13: for crude and sexual humor, language, drug references and brief violence
“I wanna go fast!”
So says a young Ricky Bobby early on in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, a comedy that takes that line quite seriously.
Co-writer (along with star Will Ferrell) and director Adam McKay (who also teamed up with Ferrell in 2004’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy) moves the plot of this NASCAR-themed comedy at a breakneck speed, hardly slowing down until the last third of the film.
We are introduced to the parents of Ricky Bobby as the mother gives birth to him in the back seat of his father’s muscle car. From then on, we see the swift rise and fall and rise again of the title character as he goes from pit crew member-turned racing superstar to down and out loser who learns his lesson and returns to greatness.
This may seem like a lot of story for a 105 minute comedy to tell but McKay gets it all in (never slowing down to build realistic character development or story structure, but who cares about that when you’ve got Will Ferrell, right?) and ignores logic to deliver an entertaining, but completely stupid laugh fest.
This is Ferrell’s show indeed. Twice we get to see him strip down to his whitey-tighties and run around thinking he’s on fire when in fact it’s all in Ricky’s head, stab himself in the leg, pray to the “baby Jesus” and goof off in general all while speaking in an hilarious southern drawl. Anyone who goes to see Talladega Nights should be well aware of what they are going to see: a nonsensical romp that showcases the talents of one of the best comedic actors of our time. Nothing else, just stupid, but often hilarious comedy (As Robert Downey, Jr.’s character said in Natural Born Killers, “its junk food for the brain”)
The supporting cast is either totally wasted or absolutely brilliant.
In the brilliant department is John C. Reilly (One of the great character actors of this or any generation along with Paul Giamatti) who almost steals the show from Ferrell but remains a strong comedic force in his own right. Reilly plays Cal Naughton, Jr., Ricky Bobby’s best friend and racing teammate. The pair has excellent chemistry together. You can tell they really fed off each other as most of their scenes have an improvisational feel to them that really works here. Two of the funnier scenes in the movie involve a dinner table setting in which the two discuss their interpretations of Jesus Christ (Naughton says he sees him as either a bum or a man with eagle’s wings, while Ricky always refers to him as “baby Jesus,” much to the dismay of his wife’s father), and a scene in which Ricky is in a coma and Cal confesses that he once posed for Playgirl and “spread his butt cheeks under the name Mike Honcho.”
Other strong turns come from Gary Cole (Lumbergh from Office Space) as Ricky’s dad. Here he plays a dope-peddling bad father who is rarely there for Ricky and is never seen without a huge can of beer in his hand. Oh yeah, and Molly Shannon (of SNL fame) is hilarious in a minuscule role as a drunken wife of a NASCAR big wig.
The rest of the cast was a bit of a disappointment. There’s Sacha Baron Cohen (the creator of the fantastically hilarious HBO series Da Ali G Show) who never really comes through onscreen even as he plays a gay French formula one racer who is Ricky’s biggest challenge. And I shouldn’t forget Amy Adams (who was nominated for an Oscar this year for the film Junebug) who has a great screen presence but is left with little or nothing to do in a role that wastes her many talents. Other wasted opportunities come from the likes of Michael Clarke Duncan (as Ricky’s pit crew chief) and David Koechner (who played Champ Kind in Anchorman).
This is all a bit nitpicky if you really just want to go the theater and have some good laughs. If this is the case, then Talladega Nights will not disappoint most. But if you like a little more meaning, intelligence and logical storytelling in your comedy then this is not the best choice by any means.
HDFEST grading scale
-Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby--
Story C-
Acting B-
Visuals B-
Originality C
Enjoyability B+
Overall Grade B-
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