Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby: Movie, DVD, Blu-ray disc Review (2006)

(Originally published 2006)

NASCAR fans should be pleased with "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," a comedy that affectionately sends up the sport.

At a recent, packed screening of the movie, a look around the theater confirmed that those talking back at the screen and laughing the hardest tended to be wearing a blaze of color with their NASCAR caps, NASCAR jackets and NASCAR T-shirts.

One middle-aged woman with the number "8" tattooed on her left shoulder--likely in memory of the late Dale Earnhardt, with whom so many have bonded on so many levels since his death--was perhaps the sport's greatest devotee in attendance. When her cell phone rang in the middle of the movie, it wasn't the sound of bells or even a musical ringtone that interrupted the show. Instead, it sounded as if somebody was gunning an engine in her handbag.

For them--and for anybody else seeking a fun comedy--the news mostly is good for "Ricky Bobby." As directed by Adam McKay from a script he co-wrote with Will Ferrell, the movie is reminiscent of Ferrell's "Anchor Man: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" in that it's at its best when it just cuts loose and riffs on all that it's skewering.

That turns out to be often. The movie stars Ferrell as Ricky Bobby, whose wayward childhood begins the film on a high note when he is born in the back seat of a race car going 125 mph. Fastfoward several years and Ricky's first words aren't the usual "Mama" or "Uncle," but the somewhat unconventional, "I wanna go fast!"

Later, still a child, he steals his mother's car and indeed does go fast, wreaking havoc along the way, and later still we meet his deadbeat dad, the amateur tattoo artist and car racer Reese (Gary Cole), who instills in Bobby one key phrase before disappearing from his life for years: "If you ain't first, you're last."

Taking that to heart, Ricky and his best friend, Cal (John C. Reilly), grow up to find work in a NASCAR pit crew, where Ricky gets an opportunity from his pit-crew chief, Lucius (Michael Clarke Duncan), to drive for the team when the lead driver bails.

In no time, Ricky becomes NASCAR's top driver. He's a sensation--unstoppable, unbeatable--winning race after race, marrying the first hot blonde to flash him in the stands (Leslie Bibb), and having two sons, Walker and Texas Ranger, who are all about daddy's fame and daddy's millions. As Ricky himself says, he's living the American dream.

Trouble is, dreams sometimes become nightmares, which is the case when Ricky is pitted against the gifted gay French driver, Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), who causes Ricky such a fall from grace, there is only one direction the movie can take--a predictable showdown between the two men at the end.

The first third is the movie at its best--it has the looseness of improvisation, the electricity of being conceived on the fly. The second half is a struggle, but McKay recovers nicely toward the end, where he and Ferrell find that their inspiration isn't at a bar or at Applebee's, but on the track, where so many stereotypes have come to gather--and where so many stereotypes are eventually run down by the script.

Grade: B