Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

I heard more than one reviewer comparing Talledega Nights to last summer's The 40 Year-Old Virgin. I thought The 40 Year-Old Virgin was a pretty funny movie, and so I was convinced (admittedly against my better judgment) to buy a ticket to see Will Ferrell's latest offering. I should have listened to my better judgment.

Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) has wanted to go fast almost literally since he was born. That desire understandably led him to work with race cars and eventually to become a winning driver. Along with his buddy Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly), Ricky races for a team owned by Larry Dennit and his son, Larry Dennit, Jr. (Greg Germann). Their successes result in the pair leading the good life, which includes a big house, Ricky's beautiful wife, Carley (Leslie Bibb), and his boisterous sons. Meanwhile, Cal is so happy to be along for the ride that he never really questions that the lion's share of the rewards are all Ricky's.

Despite fame and fortune for all, Dennit has never really cared for Ricky. When he gets the chance, he adds a champion Formula One driver to his team (Jean Girard, played by Sacha Baron Cohen) in part to beef up his stable of drivers, but also to put Ricky in his place. As it turns out, Girard is a very good driver indeed, and Ricky has to work hard to hold his own. Unfortunately, a serious accident puts Ricky out of the competition before the question of which of the two is the better driver can ever really be answered.

The accident costs Ricky more than his pride. He ends up moving into his mother's house (Lucy Bobby, played by Jane Lynch) where he does his best to simply move forward on a day-to-day basis. Meanwhile, whatever the accident cost Ricky, it has also propelled Cal at long last into the racing spotlight. When his long lost father Reese Bobby (Gary Cole) finally shows up, however, all bets are off as to just what Ricky will be shamed, cajoled, or forced to do next.

Will Ferrell is an uneven performer at best. Positively stellar in Elf, he overacts here. Scenes that could have been amusing are stretched beyond endurance (repeated scenes of Ferrell in his underwear, running frantically as he tries to put out a non-existent fire, drag on until whatever little humor there might otherwise have been is beaten senseless into the macadam of the race track); lines that might otherwise have been funny are hammered home much too hard (one of the most amusing moments in the film involves the announcement of the names of Ricky's children, delivered almost as an aside). Other lines (not the least of which is the catchphrase Ricky and Cal inexplicably use — and use, and use, and use again) just aren't funny at all.

Along with Ferrell himself, former Saturday Night Live writer Adam McKay also gets credit — or blame, as the case may be — for the script. Adding insult to injury is the fact that McKay also directed. Here's a hint to other would-be comedy writers: What's funny, or at least mildly amusing, for the course of a three or four minute skit is not so much after being dragged out for some 90 minutes. And here's another idea for consideration: overacting doesn't contribute to comedy. Really. (Molly Shannon, please take note.)

I heard very few laughs during the well attended showing I saw, and didn't laugh at all myself. Talledega Nights stretched into a very long afternoon for me, and I'm sorry I succumbed to some relatively good reviews. My own judgment failing, I might also have listened to a friend's teenagers who saw the movie the night before I did. Their take: Talledega Nights is probably a better rental. My own: And maybe not even that. (Except for the credits. I liked the credits. If you get roped into seeing Talledega Nights, at least do yourself the favor of staying for the credits. Trust me.)

FAMILY SUITABLITY: Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is rated PG-13 for "crude and sexual humor, language, drug references, and brief comic violence." I'd agree that the rating is about right. Younger teens may very well get a kick out of some of the inappropriate humor, though most will be too mature for it; the sexual humor isn't graphic enough to pose too much of a problem for kids that age. An extra warning here to those who are fairly devout Christians: There's a scene involving grace before a meal that expounds at some length on the perceived nature of Jesus. That was actually one of the few scenes I found amusing, but I'm willing to bet that others will simply find it offensive.