Movie Review Talladega Nights The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Talladega Nights The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) 

Directed by Adam McKay 

Written by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay 

Starring Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Amy Adams, Gary Cole, Leslie Bibb

Release Date August 4th, 2006 

Published August 3rd, 2006 

Will Ferrell struggled through 2005 with a pair of potential blockbusters that went belly up. Kicking And Screaming and Bewitched were Ferrell's attempt to solidify his star status outside the auspices of his frat pack pals Vince Vaughn and the Wilson brothers and they failed. With his first effort of 2006 Ferrell returns to safer territory. Under the guidance of his Anchorman director Adam McKay, Ferrell gets back in the comedic driver seat in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Using their Anchorman formula, McKay and Ferrell simply adapt Anchorman to the Nascar track. Take an arrogant simpleton seemingly on top of the world. Pull the rug out from under him and then watch as he crawls back to the top as improvised comic madness rains all around him. Some may fault the formulaic approach but you can't deny that this formula works.

Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) is the number one driver in all of Nascar. His risky style has him finishing first or crashing the car and not finishing at all. With the help of his teammate Cal Jr (John C. Reilly), Ricky Bobby's place in the winner circle every week is assured. That is, until the arrival of the French formula one champion Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) who arrives gunning for Ricky Bobby.

In their first showdown, Girard gets the best of Ricky when Ricky is involved in a major crash. The aftermath of the crash has Ricky thinking he is paralyzed and leads to his being unable to drive fast anymore. Can Ricky get over his fears, get back in the car and win at Talladega again or will he be delivering pizzas on a huffy bike the rest of his life.

That is what passes as a plot for a plot in Talladega Nights though plotting is not something director Adam McKay and star Will Ferrell are all that interested in. Working from a script left open for much improv, the point of Talladega Nights is crafting gag after gag after gag. Some of the gags don't work, many more do work and produce big, big laughs. In particular watch out for Will Ferrell improvising a unique dinner blessing and Ferrell's inspired reaction to his harrowing 'fiery' crash.

The talented cast of Talladega Nights, lead by Ferrell, Reilly and Cohen and backed up more than ably by Michael Clarke Duncan, Jane Lynch and Gary Cole, turns out some terrifically inspired moments of sheer goofiness and energetic weirdness. Much of the humor is based on what must have been hours of improvisation.

If there is one problem with the cast it's with the film's use of Oscar nominee Amy Adams. Hired to play Ferrell's secondary love interest, Adams is introduced early on and then abandoned. She returns but not until the third act and even then is limited to one terrifically eccentric monologue. There is no question from this monologue that Adams can hang with this terrific troop of improv actors but it seems that much of her role is on the cutting room floor.

Talladega Nights is deeply flawed as a typical three act film. The story arc is weak and the storytelling is disjointed. But, none of that really matters once you accept that all of this goofiness isn't really a movie as much as it is a series of gags. Some of these gags are funny, some are very funny and some fall flatter than a blown tire.

Sacha Baron Cohen has star potential rolling off his every mangled syllable. His upcoming comedy Borat, based on a character from his HBO show The Ali G Show, is generating big buzz. Talladega Nights is an excellent introduction of his talent for weird accents and highly eccentric characters. Watching Cohen and Ferrell riff back and forth, Cohen with his astonishingly incomprehensible French accent and Ferrell with his simpleton's twang, in several confrontational scenes is pure comic gold that, no doubt, left plenty of material for a DVD worth of improv riffs, some of which you can see over the films credits.

In a cast filled with scene stealers Gary Cole nearly walks away with the entire picture as Ricky's no good, low down, drug dealing, car racing daddy Reese Bobby. Known more for his buttoned down simps, Bill Lumberg in Office Space or the Vice President on The West Wing, Cole shows a surprising talent for being a dirtbag. With a beer in his hand, a twang in his voice, and clothes that almost stink through the screen, Cole is pitch perfect as a redneck deadbeat.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby is very funny as a series of Nascar based improv skits. As a movie it's a disjointed, often ridiculous exercise in plot mechanics and minor melodrama. I found the film left a lot to be desired in terms of great filmmaking but that is a minor concern when a movie makes me laugh as much as I laughed during Talladega Nights.