Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

I had a free afternoon this week and took in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Will Farrell cracks me up. I read that the producers of this movie pitched it to studios in six words: Will Farrell as a Nascar driver. And greenlight it, they did. It wasn't terrible, but not great either. There were funny parts but the parts didn't come together as a whole.

Ricky Bobby (Farrell) is a Nascar driver who's childhood dream was to be a race car driver and was told by his transient, deadbeat father, Reese (Gary Cole), that "If you aren't first, you're last." Ricky has based his career on that piece of advice and it has worked since he is always the number one driver with many endorsement deals ("I'm Ricky Bobby. If you don't chew Big Red gum, *BEEP* you"). Cal Naughton Jr. (John C. Reilly) is Ricky's racing partner and best friend, always willing to sacrifice a win for Ricky as part of their "Shake and Bake" team slingshot maneuver. Ricky is also married to Carley (Leslie Bibb), an attractive, blonde gold digger more concerned with Ricky's wins and endorsement deals than with him as a husband. He also has two young sons with out of control attitudes.


In every narrative movie comes the inciting incident that thows everything out of balance for the protagonist. In this case it's the entrance of Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), the new hotshot French Nascar racer who becomes Ricky's nemesis. Girard begins winning races, Ricky loses and soon afterward, Ricky gets into an accident that puts him in a very different place. Ricky gets help from his mother, Lucy (Jane Lynch) and re-unites with his father, Reese. Reese puts Ricky through different challenges to get back on track with some hilarious results. For example, Ricky, who's become scared of driving fast, is told by his father that he's strapped some illegal drugs to the bottom of the car, has called police and Ricky has two minutes to get away if he doesn't want to go to prison. Ricky slowly regains his confidence and has found a new connection to his family. Will Ricky Bobby be able to race and win again?

The strongest performances in this film are Ricky Bobby, his mother played by the hilarious Jane Lynch, who did a bang up job in The 40 Year Old Virgin, and father played by Gary Cole, who always brings his A game in every performance he does (Office Space). John C. Reilly is terrific as Ricky's friend, Cal. Will Farrell and John C. Reilly together have some of the funniest parts of the film. Molly Shannon was also great as Ricky's sponsor's drunken wife. They never really went anywhere with her character though and it seemed like a waste of talent. Sacha Baron Cohen was a little over the top as Ricky's gay, French nemesis. His accent really bothered me. I wasn't crazy about Amy Adams as Ricky's assistant, Susan, either. Overall, it wasn't terribly memorable. As I said earlier, funny parts that don't quite add up to a whole. The film pokes fun at Nascar drivers and fans, Christians and the South. If you aren't too sensitive about that (some people on the IMDB boards for this film are) then you should find most of it funny. Like, the argument before dinner (Dominos and KFC) over which Jesus to say grace to, the baby Jesus or adult Jesus, considering Applebee's fine dining, etc.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
6.5/10
Recommended: Wait til it hits the cheap theaters or rent it.
See it because....you really, really like Will Farrell and/or like a silly comedy.
Best line...Ricky: I'm on fire! I'm on fire! Help my Jesus! Help me Jewish guy! Help me, Allah! Help me, Tom Cruise! Tom Cruise use your witchcraft to get the fire off of me! Help me, Oprah!
Cheesiest line...Susan's fired up rants, which were supposed to be more comical than they actually were.

More ramblings to come....