Not Ferrell's best work

Rating: 5/10 (25 September 2006)

Disappointed is probably the best word to sum up how I feel about this movie. Having already sat through the appalling Disney/Pixar vehicle, "Cars", earlier in the year, I was looking forward to an altogether better movie based around motor racing this time around. The trailer was good and much of Ferrell's other work has had me on the floor laughing. Alas, it was not to be and at 108 minutes, this film's about 25 minutes too long for what it has to offer. Of course, much of it has been ad-libbed (you can see the actors almost about to laugh at what's going on in several scenes) but I felt it strange that some of the funniest material, both in the trailer and in the end credits, did not make it into the movie itself, which certainly could've done with them. It's not that you won't laugh at what is there, it's just that what is there is a little thin on the ground and interspersed with scenes and shots that are too long and lingering to help the comedy but which also do not sit well in a movie with a tone as obviously farcical as this one's. Some of the jokes also rely too heavily on, how do I say this, conservative sensitivities and, while funny the first time, do feel jaded after a few airings. Ferrell and Reilly do reasonably well, even if their catchphrase is overdone by the end, but Sascha Baron-Cohen never really fits properly into his part. It's hard to put a finger on it but it's probably down to the character not being his own creation: he's not sitting in his own skin so to speak. I'm sure that the Borat movie will make amends for this. Let's hope that that's not yet another disappointment. As for Talladega Nights, well, it's probably best watched with your mates on TV/DVD after you've all had a few beers.