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Will Ferrell was one of the better cast members over the decade he stayed with Saturday Night Live but for me his transition to movies was rocky; the less said about Elf, Zoolander, Old School, Bewitched or Kicking and Screaming the better. But Anchorman, which I saw but apparently forgot to writeup, and especially Stranger than Fiction Ferrell began to show that he was capable of bringing more to the table than just timing and facial expressions. More than, say, fellow cast members like Chris Kattan, Jimmy Fallon or Tracy Morgan and closing in on Adam Sandler (not that difficult) though still far short of Mike Myers, Dana Carvey or Eddie Murphy.
Aside: Has it really been 15 years since Wayne’s World and, other than the Austin Powers flicks and voice work for Shrek, has Myers been asleep all this time? Geez, talk about wasting talent.
Back to the point. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a movie that could easily have gone down the Elf bin if Ferrell and co-star John C. Reilly had left it in neutral. Good supporting cast too including Jane Lynch as Ricky’s mom, Gary Cole as his estranged dad, Michael Clarke Duncan as the biggest, blackest good old boy you’ll ever see and Ricky’s crew chief and Leslie Bibb and Amy Adams as his two romantic interests.
I still remain unimpressed with Sacha Baron Cohen (best know as Borat and Ali G), who plays a gay French intellectual Formula One driver named Jean Girard come over to NASCAR to challenge Ricky Bobby’s dominance and I think this play on stereotypes, essentially the cardboard anti-Bobby, is the weakest part of the movie. Andy Richter, also using a pitiful accent, has a small bit as Girard’s boyfriend.
Rounding out my list of poor support performances are Greg Germann as the racing team owner and Molly Shannon as his alcoholic wife; Germann, who I thought was better than this, has gotten stuck in playing one role over and over and frankly it’s gotten tiresome and probably its the role rather than Shannon I have a problem with since her character’s drinking problem adds nothing to the story nor does it meaningfully illuminate any more significant character.
The script, written by Ferrell and Adam McKay (who also teamed on Anchorman), is about a boy who idolizes a good for nothing dad who ran off when he was a tot but shared with him the need to go fast. Dad imparts a life philosophy when he shows up for career day out of the blue when Ricky’s ten, which the kid keeps as a gem worthy of the Budda: “If you ain’t first, you’re last!” Ricky and best friend Cal (Reilly) get jobs working on a second tier NASCAR pit crew until one Sunday their driver decides to take a mid-race burger break and Ricky volunteers to finish the race. Talk about getting Lou Gehrig’ed!
He races right to the top, winning races and championships and bringing Cal on as the team’s #2 driver. Decidedly numero dos because, well, if you ain’t first you’re last and Ricky Bobby ain’t gonna be last. When Girard shows up, our good old boy gets into an ego-destroying crash and follows that up by having his wife and team sponsor dump him for Cal. Ricky really hits bottom until Dad shows up and teaches him how to climb back. This is the part where McKay and Ferrell really won me over because, while they never left the comedy too far behind, they didn’t drive to Stupid Town or Melodrama Mall and recognized that basic emotion can deliver more satisfying results.
recommended
