Review of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) by Markb. — 15 Oct 2006

If they can get past the fact that NASCAR superstar Ricky Bobby's major adversary (Sasha Baron Cohen) is not only openly gay (and French!) but more fundamentally decent, admirable and honest than the hero, fundamentalist Christians may find this movie's wonderful family dinner scene astonishingly insightful and satirically on the nose.

While saying grace, Ricky insists on praying not to either the crucified or the risen Jesus Christ, but to the baby in the manger. This makes sense from Ricky's point of view because he can therefore have it both ways: he can profess Christianity (and maybe even seem to believe it) without having to surrender himself to it; he can remain in control of his life and seemingly on top of the world because, after all, who takes orders from a little baby? Needless to say, Ricky's Number One position in the racing world takes a traumatic tumble as the movie follows a story arc that's surprisingly similar to that found in Rocky III: in order for the hero to return to the top he has to conquer his fears, and in fact the latter is far more important than the former.

Although Talledega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby never quite tops the mealtime scene (easily the funniest sequence seen so far in ANY 2006 movie), and even though it's frequently as uneven and scattershot as you'd expect from the folks who brought you Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy two years ago, it's a far sharper, more consistently amusing and cohesive film comedy that DOESN'T simultaneously implode, fall apart and spin off in twelve different directions the way Will Ferrell's and Adam McKay's 2004 hit did.

Great supporting players help, especially Gary Cole (The Brady Bunch Movie), who continues his late career as a comedy stealth weapon playing Ricky's emotionally-and-every-other-way deadbeat dad, Jane Lynch, who's delightful (and remarkably sexy) as his steely mom, and especially Amy Adams, who delivered last year's best performance--lead, supporting or otherwise--as Junebug's naive but wise pregnant lady, and so immerses herself in character here as a shy Team Bobby employee that I didn't even recognize her until the final 10 minutes! And if nothing else, Talledega Nights provides welcome reassurance for us John C.

Reilly fans who sat through his 2002 Loser Trilogy (Chicago, The Good Girl, The Hours) that, as Ricky's best friend and less ostentatious fellow racer, that this fine actor can do other things besides threatening to become this decade's answer to Ralph Bellamy.