...lacks the guts of genuine satire (its estimated $85 million dollar budget was too big for that), and it sputters as a good ol' boy outing with occasional forays into sincerity.
...skirts the line between parody and homage so well that you will hardly be able to tell whether Will Ferrell and his Anchorman collaborator Adam McKay are poking fun at or celebrating NASCAR culture.
...worth getting revved up over, though non-Ferrell fans will be unimpressed no matter how many times he strips to his skivvies. But those who appreciate his sense of humor will be utterly entertained by his efforts to kick it into high gear.
Rambunctious and synthetic, Talladega Nights boasts its fair share of inspired Ferrell riffs, even if, as a satire of the NASCAR subculture, it mostly runs on fumes.
Cohen and Ferrell riff off each other with inspired lunacy. So it's hard to watch when the plot thickens and congeals with scenes involving Ricky's love for his absentee daddy (Gary Cole) and a totally unnecessary romance with his assistant, Susie, well played by Amy Adams but quite a comedown from her Oscar-nominated turn last year in Junebug.
A Will Ferrell blowhard must, of course, be brought down, and Talladega Nights grows flakier and more uneven the lower Ricky falls. The races, however, are scorchingly shot, and they lend the movie a zest that was missing from Anchorman, Ferrell's last collaboration with director/co-writer Adam McKay. This one scores laughs right down to its gloriously gaga climactic smooch.
...the tale of Ricky Bobby (Ferrell, of course), an abandoned kid who grows up to be a famous NASCAR driver, is beside the point. It's just the watered-down glue that keeps the movie from playing like a series of sketches in which grown-ass men do dumbass-kid stuff for nearly two hours.
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This movie is available on DVD/Video
ALL AVERAGE CRITIC RATING
6.6
AVERAGE USER RATING (12 ratings)
4.9
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USER REVIEWS:
lmbradshaw3
Even my son thought this was crap. A few cheap laughs and the same old Ferrell schtick.
sme8
Not as crazy as Anchorman, but still pretty funny. There's nothing out in theaters as funny as this. I do believe Sacha Baron Cohen will turn out to be our generation's Peter Sellers. Also oddly serves as a commentary on the "if you're not with us you're against us" mentality of certain Americans -- and the state of the American Dream itself.
dack4
Worthwhile only for Sacha Baron Cohen, a couple of Steve Earle tracks, and the relentlenss ridicule of NASCAR and other lowbrow culture (Applebee's). It's basically a 30-minute idea stretched to a ridiculous 2 hour gruel-a-thon. Should've been 80, 90 minutes tops, and even then it would've sucked. Also, what lmbradshaw says.
stevilbot6
the ridicule of NASCAR/southern culture is worth checking out. wil ferrell does his usual running about in underwear routine and sacha baron cohen was crap. it was really kind of an embarrassing performance for cohen. about 30-40 minutes worth of laughs and hiijinks.
tsudduth240
Terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE. I attempted to watch this movie twice but had to cease due to the bile rising from my stomach
Oracle0
The simple question to ask yourself after having a whole week of writing essays in school is the following: What the * * * *?
Believe me, I'm usually the type of guy, when not critisizing the movie, that enjoys to relax and have a decent night with friends. But even my friends, who tease me for liking the "abnoxiously scary" INLAND EMPIRE, shut the T.V off, and went to do something else.
For the cinema industry's own sake, please, please, do not watch this film. Watch Lynch's avant-garde masterpiece instead.
-Oracle
madmitch5
Some of it was funny but much of it was same old, same old. An ok rental.
This movie is available on DVD/Video