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Wednesday, 16 August 2006 04:41 |
| | Meg Hale |
I am not always the worldës biggest Will Ferrell fan. While I think his George W. Bush impression is frighteningly dead-on, I often find his humor to be kind of base.
Most of his movies have aspects of low-humor as well, with lots of physical comedy and jokes about sex and bodily functions. However, there are also aspects of comic genius in his work.
His newest film, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," is no exception. The title character, Ricky Bobby (Ferrell), like most of the characters Ferrell has played in his career, is incredibly stupid.
For this film,
however, he is a NASCAR jack-man, who gets his opportunity to get out
of the pit crew and into the racecar. When Ricky wins his first race,
he is catapulted into super-stardom and gets showered with fame,
fortune and women.
It is a decent
premise for a story and lends itself nicely to a couple of great
redneck jokes, most of which are spoiled in the trailer. Other than
that, though, it didnët have me rolling in the proverbial aisles.
I had somewhat high hopes because of the last Ferrell film, "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy."
True, it is the
same The Three Stooges kind of humor, but the improvised dialogue and
brilliant randomness gave it a comic beauty unlike anything I have ever
seen. The Afternoon Delight quartet and the news team battle scenes
alone made the film memorable. I think the fans were expecting a film
comparable to that in "Talladega Nights."
The movie has a
nice supporting cast, including Academy-award nominee John C. Reilly
("Chicago") playing Rickyës childhood best friend and racing compadre,
Cal Naughton Jr.
 The film also
has an Oscar-nominee Amy Adams ("Junebug") playing Rickyës love
interest and assistant Susan. While both actors did splendid jobs, I
think I would have enjoyed the movie a lot more had one of them been
playing more of a straight-man to Ferrellës wackiness. Somehow, Ferrell
always seems to be funnier if there is someone present to be stunned by
his antics.
Another problem
with the film is that it didnët seem to know what audience it was
geared toward. Parts of it were celebrated the cultural phenomenon that
is NASCAR, while other parts were clearly poking fun at it. No matter
who you are, you are going to be in the dark for one scene or another
with this movie.
For me, the part
of the movie that puzzled me most was the character of Ricky Bobbyës
nemesis. Rickyës racing prowess is bested by only one man: Jean Girard,
played by Sacha Baron Cohen ("Da Ali G Show").
Girard is an
intellectual, homosexual Frenchman with an annoyingly exaggerated
accent. Though it was meant to be taken as a joke, I thought it was a
horrible choice for a filmës villain.
"Talladega
Nights" is by no means a lousy movie, though. It is actually quite
funny throughout most of it. The racing scenes are exhilarating as
well, if you are into that sort of thing. I just think audiences will
be let down if they go into it, as I did, holding it to the standard of
the previous writing collaborations between Ferrell and Adam McKay and
producer Judd Apatow ("Freaks and Geeks").
While "Talladega
Nights" was lacking in many respects, I did get a laugh out of it and
so did the rest of the audience. It is definitely worth a watch, but I
wouldnët blame anyone for waiting until it came out on video to see it.
It contains strong language and subject matter, but could probably be
handled by most audiences. I give it three and a half of my six planets.
  
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