Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

Directed by: Adam McKay | 108 minutes | action, comedy, sports | Actors: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Leslie Bibb, Gary Cole, Jane Lynch, Lucius Washington, Luke Bigham, Austin Crimm, Adam McKay, David Koechner, Jack McBrayer, Pat Hingle, Greg Germann, Amy Adams, Houston Tumlin, Ted Manson, Molly Shannon, Rob Riggle, Frank Hoyt Taylor, Jim Wise, Elvis Costello, Mos Def

Ricky Bobby’s (Gary Cole) father urges his son to become the best with the profound saying, “If you’re not first, you’re last.” And then run off again for years on end. Ricky Bobby listens carefully to his father’s words and along with his childhood friend Carl Naughton Jr. he successfully tackles all his opponents on the racetracks according to the ‘shake and bake’ principle. Carl also wants to win sometimes, but Ricky explains to him that he will be second and that is out of the question. Good-natured Carl understands that too. Ricky Bobby, meanwhile, earns locks with money, is married to the super sexy Carley and has it all figured out.

Then the French Formula I driver Jean Girard appears on the scene and from that moment everything goes wrong. First, Girard breaks Ricky’s arm after a taunting game, and then Ricky has an accident that doesn’t leave him physically injured, but mentally incapacitates him. Carley can only love a winner and marries Carl who also immediately confiscates Ricky’s house. The sponsors who made Ricky rich are failing en masse. If he also loses his driver’s license and cannot work as a pizza delivery boy on his sons’ bicycle, life does not look rosy.

The movie is just as crazy as the title. At first it’s mostly flat jokes when you witness Ricky Bobby’s selfishness and rudeness and the silly jokes he throws around so tasty. Only when Sacha Baron Cohen’s character joins in does it start to tingle. He speaks with the same idiotic French accent as Inspector Clouseau (‘Ricky Booby’) and is just as eccentric. But the other characters also get a huge lift because of this catalyst and everything that was previously only flat and vulgar becomes funny and weird in a good way.

Very bland, but also very nice are the telephone conversations that Carl and Ricky have. Carl can’t get used to the house and life of his former boyfriend and keeps calling him to chat. And Ricky chats along, until he remembers that he doesn’t want to talk at all to the man who stole his wife and his life, but a few seconds later he forgets it again and they agree to have something to eat until Ricky can. remembers his anger. Leave it to John C. Reilly to irresistibly play some silly, loyal friend with whom you can have this kind of hazy conversation.

The funniest scene, and which also best typifies the film, is when Ricky thinks he is almost completely paralyzed and therefore no longer has any feeling in his legs. Despite warnings from Carl and his chief mechanic Michael (Lucius Washington), he stabs a knife in his thigh to prove his point. He screams in pain, but the knife won’t come out. Carl and Michael then come up with the bright idea to stick another knife in his leg and pry it off that way. Bland when you read it, but the way they play it makes you laugh uncontrollably.

‘Talladega Nights’ is a corny, wacky movie full of idiotic jokes and events that are bland, but also very witty and performed with great pleasure by the actors.