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Wild Night
At some point, you have to wonder how many times Will Ferrell can successfully trap his comedic lightning in a bottle. Sure, he's had his instances of misfire, mostly when he tries too hard to put a dramatic spin on his mania (Bewitched) or takes a small role in an eclectic arthouse film (the terrible A Winter Passing), but when Will Ferrell decides to just be himself - the sometimes arrogant, often empty headed man-child we've seen in Elf, Old School, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy - it's gold. Anchorman, in particular, has rocketed Ferrell's stock higher than most people could have imagined: it started as a mid-level comedy that did well in the box office, but with the release of the DVD it has turned into a phenomenon. Ferrell teamed back up with Anchorman writer/director Adam McKay on Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and as far as I can tell, they've struck that gold again.
Ferrell plays Ricky Bobby, a pit crew flunkie for NASCAR's worst racing team, at least until the driver quits a race to get a chicken sandwich and Ricky Bobby gets a chance to fulfill his single life's dream - driving as fast as he possibly can. Soon, he's dominating the sport and adding his best friend Cal (John C. Reilly), another pit crew member, to the driving team. The first act of the movie, which follows Ricky Bobby's quick rise to fame, give Ferrell the room to be brilliant - he interviews that he wakes up in the morning and pees excellence, does commercials for everything under the sun, and gets into arguments with his family about how to say grace (he says that the infant Jesus is his favorite "version").
The wheels begin to come out from under Ricky Bobby's life, though, when an erudite Formula One driver with a funny accent (Sacha Baron Cohen, popularly known as Ali G.) makes the switch to NASCAR and threatens to turn the redneck world upside-down. Ricky Bobby wrecks his car and career trying to win his first race against Cohen's Jean Girard and spends the rest of the movie getting his racing mojo back. Thankfully, even as the action moves away from the racetrack, the laughs stay on track.
Ferrell is classically himself as Ricky Bobby, as if he were Ron Burgundy's southern cousin. There's no doubt that he's the king of the hill in the film. Like Anchorman, though, so many of the laughs come from the supporting cast. Reilly is very funny as a man who tries to balance his friendship with Ricky Bobby with his own desire to win. Cohen, though his mangled accent steps over the border into obnoxious territory, is a hilarious villain, and is given plenty of great scenes. And if you want to look for scene-stealing performances, look at the kids who play Ricky Bobby's two sons, Walker and Texas Ranger. They are brilliantly devilish without being profane, and their line deliver mocks Ferrell's to a T. It's classic.
The best thing about Talladega Nights is that, like Anchorman, it will probably get funnier with every viewing. For pure quotability, it might not ever reach the level of "I want to be on you" or "I love lamp," but the jokes here are more seamless and understated. One day, people might get tired of Ferrell. Mercifully, it doesn't look like that day is coming any time soon.
Rating: * * * 1/2 of 5 (if some of the cut scenes that roll over the credits had been included in the movie, it would be even higher. Stick around after the movie for multiple takes on the dinner table scene.)
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sjuhawk31) wrote,
