Talladega Nights:
The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
____
By Todd Karella
August 4, 2006
Rated PG-13
~ Fast cars, slow jokes ~
There’s very little originality in the story, so you can rest assure that it will have a happy ending, but just the fact that it’s ending is what truly makes you happy.
  Some people really enjoy Will Farrell’s films, but not only was it a bad script, but the acting was even worse. There was no emotion or feeling to the film and it felt like they were reading their lines off cue cards like a bad SNL skit.
  The trailers that have been bombarding the theatres for the last couple of months have contained some of the most hilarious footage that we’ve seen in a long time, too bad that they are the only funny scenes in the entire film.  So not only have you seen them many times before, but when sprinkled in sparingly throughout a rather dry script even those highlights fall flat.
   At first glance it’s expected that this film will be a complete spoof on NASCAR. Unfortunately, the script isn’t written that way and just comes across as stupid and reinforcing the typical NASCAR-fan stereotype.
  Ricky Bobby (Will Farrell) lives and breathes speed. He was born in the back of his father’s race car and hangs on every word his father says. The problem is that his father is around for about ten minutes every ten years and spouts his drunken advice. Ricky’s favorite quote is “If you ain’t first, then you’re last”.
  So for the rest of his life, he tries to live up to that quote. Although you’d think he would have higher aspirations other than a pit crew
member, which is where the film quickly jumps to.  But Ricky’s life in the pit is short lived when the driver for his team gets fed up of last place and decides that going to the restroom and getting something to eat is more important than finishing the race.
  Hopping into the race car and somehow managing to come in third place, Ricky suddenly finds himself a NASCAR driver. Not only is he a driver, but he is the best driver there is taking first place in every race he enters.
Even though he’s the best, he gets a lot of help from his fellow teammate, Cal Naughton Jr. (John C. Reilly), who sacrifices himself so his best friend can always be number one. Even though the two have been best friends since grade school, Ricky’s constant winning and failure to let Cal have a chance to win every once in a while begins to drive a wedge between them.
  Ricky’s attitude begins to grate on everyone, and when the owner of the racing team dies and his son, Larry Dennit Jr. (Greg Germann) takes over the team, a new racer is added.
  Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) is an arrogant Formula One driver, who expects to win even more than Ricky. He is everything that NASCAR is not. He’s refined, gay and French. Although, with the terrible accent used by Cohen, you’d never know he was French if they
didn’t come out and say it.
  In their first race, Jean takes the lead and infuriates Ricky who ends up crashing his car. The accident is so severe and his inability to accept loss so strong that Ricky ends up a mental basket case.  He’s no longer made for driving and at first doesn’t even believe that he can walk.
   With the help of his pit crew chief, Lucius Washington (Michael Clarke Duncan), and his deadbeat father, Reese Bobby (Gary Cole), will he be able to defeat Jean and regain his rightful place on top of the racing world.