Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

Short: Due to some misguided advice from his stoner absentee father (Gary Cole), Ricky (Will Ferrell) lives his life by the philosophy that "if you're not first, you're last." This motto has propelled Ricky to the top of the NASCAR standings, where he either has to come in first in every race or destroy his car trying. He even keeps his best friend and fellow racer, Cal (John C. Reilly), in second place. The addition of a Formula One French racer (Sacha Baron Cohen) to the circuit creates trouble for Ricky. Then there's the usual crash, fear, redemption and love of a good woman stuff. La-dee-da.

Oh, come on! You don't care about the plot. You want to know if the laughs are worth the ten bucks. So, yes. Yes, they are.

Ferrell is just shy of having me crown him a comic genius, Cohen does a lot with a little, and the camera work is inventive for a comedy. The pacing needs work, and some of the jokes fall flat (I recall the entire audience looking around uncomfortably at least once). Jane Lynch is a treasure is Ricky's tough momma, and Reilly is a great comedian. I also like the idea of him doing two NASCAR movies.

I've been putting off this review because I can't think of much else to say besides the few sentences I've cobbled together up there. It's funny, but I don't want to spoil the many delightful gags the way other reviews have. I enjoyed it it; I'd see it again. I will say that while Leslie Bibb and Amy Adams do seem ridiculously young for Ferrel, there are only seven and eight year age differences, respectively. Solid work. B

The Eject Button
I hereby grant you permission to hit open/power if you discover anyone watching either of the following: Eulogy (2004) - a "dark comedy" that failed to elicit a single smirk from me in the 30 minutes I much too generously gave it - or Taboo (2002) - a "thriller" I unfortunately sat through all of simply because I wanted to watch everyone in it die (and I did). There was nothing surprising in its twists, and its low budget was hilarious ineffective (I made a game of guessing when they would switch to their sole stock shot of the exterior of the mansion, which was also their sole set).