Will Ferrell, I hardly knew ye.
I met up with some high school friends of mine to see "Talladega Nights: the Ballad of Ricky Bobby" last night. At that point, I had only seen Will Ferrell once since his departure from Saturday Night Live, in Old School. From those two sources, my impression of him was that... well, I wasn't impressed. So I didn't have very high expectations going into the movie, although I was amused by the tag line, "The story of a man who could only count to #1."
It was hilarious. We were falling over ourselves laughing for most of the movie. It appeared to have been intended as an American legend, in the same vein as the tall tales of the nineteenth century--the Paul Bunyans, John Henrys, and the like. The hero's feats are legendary, and his failures spectacular. The rival, wonderfully played by Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G), is similarly larger-than-life. The father, played by Gary Cole (aka Lumbergh!), was also just fantastic. The sidekick, the female leads, the mentor, and the villain are all solid supporting characters.
What's so great about the movie is that, while being outrageous in some parts, is also very down-to-earth in others. The characters actually develop as the movie goes along; some of it is unbelievable, but some of it makes sense. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but a lot of little details seem to be very natural, maybe even ad-libbed. It makes fun of NASCAR, and it makes fun of "white trash", but on a deeper level, it also seems to understand, and even respect, where those characters are coming from.
If you're still not convinced, it's 75% fresh on RottenTomatoes.com.
It was hilarious. We were falling over ourselves laughing for most of the movie. It appeared to have been intended as an American legend, in the same vein as the tall tales of the nineteenth century--the Paul Bunyans, John Henrys, and the like. The hero's feats are legendary, and his failures spectacular. The rival, wonderfully played by Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G), is similarly larger-than-life. The father, played by Gary Cole (aka Lumbergh!), was also just fantastic. The sidekick, the female leads, the mentor, and the villain are all solid supporting characters.
What's so great about the movie is that, while being outrageous in some parts, is also very down-to-earth in others. The characters actually develop as the movie goes along; some of it is unbelievable, but some of it makes sense. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but a lot of little details seem to be very natural, maybe even ad-libbed. It makes fun of NASCAR, and it makes fun of "white trash", but on a deeper level, it also seems to understand, and even respect, where those characters are coming from.
If you're still not convinced, it's 75% fresh on RottenTomatoes.com.