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Talladega Nights
“Everyday I wake up in the mornin’ and
piss excellence.” I have a feeling that you may be sick of this
line by the time you read this review.
For those of you without any contact to the outside world, and don’t
know what this movie is, I’ll break things down for you.
Talladega Nights stars Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby, NASCAR’s numero
uno driver. The film goes through the ups and downs of Ricky’s
life, from being on top to undergoing some odd trauma, causing him to
lose it after a serious accident and spiraling quickly to the bottom
to rising back to stardom. The film co-stars John C. Riley as Ricky’s
sidekick and friend Cal Naughton Jr. The two make a great team as drivers
and also as a fine comedic team. I was slightly disappointed that they
did not share more screen time than they did, but the outtakes at the
end of the film made up for it. Playing Ricky’s nemesis is Sacha
Baron Cohen as a French Formula One driver, determined to defeat Ricky.
Cohen is just as great here as he is on Da Ali G Show, which makes me
more excited to see his Borat movie. The film also features Michael
Clarke Duncan, Leslie Bibb, Gary Cole (as Ricky’s deadbeat dad),
Jane Lynch and Amy Adams, with many more cameos including Dave Keochner
and Andy Richter.
Will Ferrell’s latest film is definitely as funny as some of his
best work and is a step up for director Adam McKay on their second pairing
(Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy was their first film together
as director and co-writers). The film is more straightforward and less
obscure, like Anchorman was at times, though there is a touch of the
weird (which I for one was relieved). Talladega Nights is certainly
a big crowd pleaser, but I feel that some of the humor is lost on some
of the crowd. While the movie stays away from poking fun at the “sport”
of NASCAR and also the fans, it does go after the drivers and the insane
amount of advertising, as we see that Ricky Bobby will sell anything.
Actually there is a little fun poking at the fans with a sprinkling
of homophobia and dumb patriotism thrown into the mix. Now this may
be stereotyping the fans and drivers, but there is a reason why Ferrell
and McKay made Ricky Bobby, and most of the cast, such idiots, but at
least they are still good people. This is definitely a film that quietly
sets back the south by a few more years in culture and intelligence.
The movie is filled with laughs aplenty and not being a NASCAR fan is
fine, as they don’t delve too deeply into the sport aside from
the racing, but watching the racing scenes are not nearly as exciting
as they could have been. As I said earlier there are going to be some
fine one-liners that will wear out quickly, but I guess we really did
need a new movie to quote, seeing as Speed 2 is all used up. I hope
McKay and Ferrell keep more coming, because their films are getting
better. “It’s like the late great Col. Sanders said, ‘I’m
so drunk I can’t taste this chicken’.”
Score 8.0
George
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