Talladega Nights film review

certificate_12A

TALLADEGA NIGHTS

Will Ferrell delivers his absurdist humour with an earnest conviction. Coupled with his lugubrious features, it's an irresistible combination; one that makes up for the weaker elements in his films. The overblown sport of NASCAR racing with its redneck affiliations is a subject ripe for ridicule, something Ferrell, along with his writing partner and director Adam McKay, have exploited to often hilarious effect in Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby. The title itself, with its joke on the abundance of NASCAR drivers who sport two first names, is a clue to what lies in store.

A feature of Ferrell's films is the warped reality they inhabit. It's as if anything goes. Random events or conversations punctuate proceedings, often with little or no connection to anything else going on around, providing a somewhat surrealistic quality. You sense McKay and Ferrell, who previously collaborated on Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, come up with ideas or gags and aren't able or concerned with trying to figure out how to weave them into the story, preferring instead to throw them in regardless. Whatever the reasoning, it's enabled Ferrell to indulge his manic stupidity to the extreme.

Born in a car, a delivery assisted by his deadbeat dad (a wonderfully funny Gary Cole) who slams on the brakes of his prized muscle car, the young Ricky Bobby was destined for a life behind the wheel. But it's only when the driver of the hapless NASCAR team he works for abandons a race to get a sandwich that Ricky finally gets his opportunity to drive. He quickly becomes a star, accruing the lifestyle of a champion, including a beautiful trophy wife (Lesley Bibb), wealth and fame, not to mention two unruly sons Walker and Texas Ranger. Joining Ricky on his ascent is his longtime friend and racing teammate Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly).

Anyone hoping to get an insightful, nuanced satire about NASCAR will be disappointed (though hardly surprised). When pressed on the question of how much research he and McKay conducted, Ferrell replied, 'We used our ignorance to help us and our laziness.' The brunt of Talladega Nights' barbs focus on the pervasive use of advertising in the sport. Everyone and everything is festooned in promotional logos. At one point Ricky crashes because he is unable to see out of his car's windscreen which is covered in a huge advert for Fig Newtons.