Product Description

The fastest man on four wheels Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) is one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. A big hairy American winning machine Ricky has everything a dimwitted daredevil could want a luxurious mansion a smokin' hot wife (Leslie Bibb) and all the fast food he can eat. But Ricky's turbo-charged lifestyle hits an unexpected speed bump when he's bested by flamboyant Euro-idiot Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen TV's Da Ali G Show) and reduced to a fear-ridden wreck. Losing his wife and job to best bud and fellow fool Cal Naughton Jr. (John C. Reilly) Ricky must kick some serious asphalt if he's to get his career back on the track beat Girard and reclaim his fame and fortune. 'Cause as Ricky Bobby always says IF YOU AIN'T FIRST YOU'RE LAST!System Requirements:Run Time: 105 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396172340 Manufacturer No: 17234

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1783 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2006-12-12
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 121 minutes

Amazon.com

Sweet baby Jesus, we thank you for blessing Will Ferrell and Adam McKay with the talent to create a NASCAR comedy as hilarious as Talladega Nights. The so-called "Ballad of Ricky Bobby" is hardly flawless in fact it's not always firing on all cylinders but with comedy star Ferrell and director McKay still hot from the success of their previous comedy hit Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, most of this 108-minute spoof of oval-track racing is so knee-slappin' funny that you can't help but surrender to the stupidity.

Obviously, Ferrell's the shining star, and his portrayal of lead-footed pit-crew-member-turned-#1 NASCAR champion Ricky "I Wanna Go Fast" Bobby (how can you not love that name?) is spot-on perfect, righteously spoofing the entirety of NASCAR culture without insulting its oft-ridiculed roots in redneck bootlegging of a bygone era. You could even argue that Talladega Nights is truer to NASCAR than Tom Cruise's Days of Thunder, and it's certainly more entertaining, especially when you add John C. Reilly as Ricky's life-long pal, teammate, and eventual rival Cal Naughton, Jr. (together they're nicknamed "Shake 'n Bake"), and Sacha Baron Cohen (from Da Ali G Show and Borat) as gay French "Formula Un" driver-turned NASCAR rival Jean Girrard, to a stellar cast including Molly Shannon, Greg Germann, Amy Adams and Michael Clarke Duncan.

Sure, it's mostly a showcase for Ferrell's loud, over-the-top antics and nonsensical non sequiturs (like cameo appearances by Elvis Costello and Mos Def), but with Ferrell behind the wheel, Talladega Nights rolls into victory lane with fuel to spare, and there's one final bit of comedy (with a tip of the hat to William Faulkner) for those who sit through the credits. --Jeff Shannon

Stills from Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby(click for larger image)

More NASCAR and Talladega Nights at Amazon.com

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Customer Reviews

Talladega Nights Crashes and Burns
Something about Nascar just does not do it for me. Sitting for hours watching guys drive cars around in circles for hours upon end just does not really tickle my fancy. I see enough idiots driving on the highways on my way to work, therefore, I don't really need to see more idiots driving around in circles on the weekend.

So I am not quite sure why then I might have had somewhat of high expectations for the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby . Perhaps I was blinded by some decent Will Ferrell movies of the recent past and thought that perhaps even Ferrell himself might have been able to shine his comedic genius upon something that simply seems more banal and boring than humorous. But I was wrong.

Will Ferrell plays the part of Ricky Bobby, a quirky and rather unintelligent man who always hoped to be a race car driver just like his deadbeat daddy before him. When fate should have its way Ricky becomes not just any Nascar driver but the lead point winner in the entire Nascar circuit. Ricky goes from being just another driver to basically the figurehead of Nascar racing.

Ricky's childhood friend who almost has a man-crush on his best buddy is Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly) Cal is, if you can believe it, perhaps a bit more dopey than Ricky Bobby and in fact sort of hopes to live up to what Ricky Bobby hopes for. Talk about aiming high! Cal for years has basically played second fiddle to Ricky Bobby and even on the race track often yields a victory to ensure Ricky Bobby comes in first.

But when a "serious" injury nearly ruins Ricky Bobby's life, things take a turn for the worse. Speculation runs rampant that Ricky Bobby might not ever be able to race again and even his wife Carley (Leslie Bibb) begins to find herself not in love with the champion that she once had.

Ricky Bobby's fall from the stardom opens the door for a driver that does not necessarily fit the whole redneck stereotype associated with race car driving. Rather, from France comes an F-1 standout now looking to become the Nascar champion, as well. Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) certainly is going to be a very different sort of individual now entering the world of Nascar and needless to say he and Ricky Bobby might come pretty close not just in their racing, but perhaps in other ways, as well.

Directed Adam McKay, it seems as though Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby was set out to perhaps poke a little bit of fun at race car driving and the entire fascination behind Nascar. However, the humor in the movie is in actuality quite flat and unimaginative. There really are few scenes in the film that are drop dead funny and the overall feel that you get from the movie is more of a desire for it to be over rather than yearning for more.

Though it did win an ESPY Award for Best Sports Movie, there were certainly no major awards bestowed upon it. One certainly should take issue with the ESPY Award, as well, since certainly there is little athletic ability in being able to drive a car around a track. That aside, there is a reason why Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby did not win any significant awards: it just isn't that good.

For a Will Ferrell film, this movie falls well short of expectations and should be avoided at all costs. Just like sometimes the best part of a Nascar race is watching a car crash into the wall and ending its run in the race, the best part of this film was when it too had ended.

Ricky Bobby???
I had hesitated to rent this; I figured it would be your usual redneck, gay bashing movie.
I was wrong. Well, kind of ....
It's got a lot of rednecks in it, but it's a very gay friendly movie.
The humor is pretty funny.
Some people may consider it raunchy, it is, but it's still funny.
The script, the directing, the "acting" is all ok.
I've watched this movie quite a few times; yes I liked it enough to buy it.
It's more serious than say, The Naked Gun movies.
But still, if you can lighten up for five minutes, you might actually enjoy the movie.
Recommended.

Stunned disbelief
My wife and I sat silently watching this movie. I laughed a couple of times, mainly out of boredom. Our reactions were both the same...what a stupid, stupid movie. The ONLY thing that kept me watching it until the end is I couldn't remember the actors name who played the dad (Gary Cole). My wife gave up half way through.

There just isn't much funny here. The basic premise is that nascar is composed of a bunch of rednecks...but they fail to translate that into anything funny. Our main debate was whether this is the dumbest movie we've seen. I say no, because there must be something more stupid...but I couldn't think of an example.