Tired Gags Enough To Drive You Crazy

Illawarra Mercury

Thursday September 28, 2006

GLEN HUMPHRIES

TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY (M)

Stars: Will Ferrell, John C Reilly, Leslie Bibb, Sacha Baron Cohen

Director: Adam McKay

Screening at Greater Union Wollongong and Shellharbour, Hoyts Warrawong.

Few people would have thought a film about a 1970s newsreader would have been very funny at all.

Yet Ferrell took that concept and gave us Anchorman, one of the most hilarious comedies in years.

So, if anyone could make a movie about car racing funny, you'd figure it'd have to be him.

While there are enough decent laughs to make it worth the price of admission, it certainly lags a fair way behind Anchorman.

Ferrell plays Ricky Bobby, a redneck dolt who has always dreamed of "going fast".

He gets his chance when, as a member of a NASCAR pit crew, he replaces the driver at the last minute and wins.

Soon enough he becomes a star, gets a trophy wife (Bibb), two kids named Walker and Texas Ranger and a feeling of invincibility.

Nothing less than first place is acceptable to him; he won't even let his longtime friend and fellow driver Cal (Reilly) win a single race.

Onto the scene comes a rival, over-the-top French driver Jean Girard (Baron Cohen) who usurps Bobby's position on the top of the podium.

Cohen's effeminate Frenchman, along with Bobby's delinquent dad (Gary Cole) deliver a large share of the laughs. Aside from them, a lot of the film feels tired.

The numerous redneck-related jokes wear thin after a while, as do the gags that are repeated through the course of the film (such as Bobby's preference to pray to the baby Jesus instead of the full-grown version).

Ferrell also recycles bits and pieces from his earlier films (such as the nude running scene from Old School) rather than coming up with anything new.

I would have accepted that recycling if he'd chosen to take bits from the far superior Anchorman but he hasn't.

If you're a Ferrell fan, you'll probably like Talledega Nights anyway. But those simply looking for a good comedy may well come away disappointed.

GLEN HUMPHRIES

© 2006 Illawarra Mercury

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