Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) October 22, 2006
Posted by gproject in : Cinema, Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Adam McKay
‘A comedy from the people that brought you Anchorman and The 40-year-old Virgin’. That poster strap-line is either going to turn you right on, or right off, depending on your view of the two aforementioned movies. Luckily for me I loved both, so my hopes were high for this new comedy starring SNL alumni Will Ferrell.
The story focuses around Ricky Bobby, a go-fast NASCAR hero who lives by one rule: ‘If you’re not first, you’re last’. With his racing partner (and best friend) Cal Naughton by his side, there’s nothing standing in Ricky Bobby’s way of winning every racing championship. That is, until a French Formula One driver migrates over to the NASCAR circuit, and proves that he can easily out-drive Ricky Bobby. Meanwhile, Cal is starting to resent his team-mate for never letting him win a race. Losing all faith in his ability, it’s up to Ricky’s absent father to reacquaint himself with his son, and teach him how to be a great driver again.
Now if there’s one thing this kind of movie has going for it, it’s quote-ability. Maybe this movie slightly less than the ones before it though. It’s still got a bundle of madcap craziness, and some wonderfully improvised scenes that introduce the most bizarre subject matter. Although some people find these kind of movies ‘dumb’, there was certainly an intelligence to Anchorman that is lacking here. It could have something to do with the characters, none of whom can be described as smart.
Anchorman director Adam McKay handles the expanded budget well, and the race sequences are fairly impressive. It’s clearly not the focus of the movie, but they have done their best to bring some spectacle to the racetrack shots, and they certainly appear realistic on screen. There’s even the mandatory CG shot where the camera passes right through a moving car – a nice take on the photography of big budget blockbusters.
I enjoyed the performances of all the principal cast: Ferrell, Gary Cole playing Ricky Bobby’s father, and Sacha Baron Cohen as French driver Jean Girard. They play everything for laughs, working with a script that sits just on the right side of stupid. Even ‘real’ actor John C. Reilly gets to show how comically gifted he is playing driving team-mate Cal Naughton. His improvisation scenes with Will Ferrell show he’s got a knack for this kind of work – so much so that he’s set to play opposite Ferrell again in another Adam McKay helmed flick: Step Brothers.
I thought this movie was an entertaining break from reality, which is exactly what you should expect from this filmmaking team. While I don’t think there’ll be too many phases that’ll enter into your vocabulary, there are plenty of funny lines that fit well within the movie itself. Given the current choices you have when it comes to comedy movies, you could do a lot worse than hanging out with Ricky Bobby for a couple of hours.
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?