Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Product Placement & Gay Jokes

Rating: 5/10 (5 August 2006)

"Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" is about a man named Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) who as a boy always dreamed of being a race car driver and living life in the fast lane. So one day, Ricky Bobby got the chance of a lifetime as he was able to race in a NASCAR Tournament. Luckily for Ricky Bobby he is one hell of a driver and has what it takes to be the top NASCAR driver in America that is until a Frenchman named Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) comes in and tries to steal Bobby's spotlight. An incredibly long and stupid movie ensues...
Now while I will admit I don't think that Will Ferrell is the funniest guy in Hollywood, I will admit I do normally like the guy in most of the films I have seen him in. I thought "Anchorman" was very stupid but very funny at the same time. I own it on DVD and seen it several times. I also thought "Old School" was a very funny movie although I do feel it's a tad overrated. With that being said, I wonder what happened with "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" because Will Ferrell was just not funny at all in this film. I didn't even get why the story was suppose to be funny. A redneck kid grows up saying " I wanna go fast" and becomes a NASCAR driver. Why is that funny? And why is the film two hours long? The main problem I had with the movie was that it was too stupid for its own good. I mean the whole redneck NASCAR idea is about 10 years old and just isn't funny anymore. I feel bad for hating this film as much as I did but the commercials and movie trailer showed the best parts of the film. The rest of the film felt like a really long and dumb commercial for Wonder Bread, Applebee's, Old Spice, PowerAde, Taco Bell, Coke, KFC, and many other products. I actually wonder if this film had a budget at all considering it really was a two hour commercial and I would think all the product placement would have paid for the entire film to be made.
About 95% of the jokes in "Talladega Nights" failed to produce laughs. I sat in a theater which was almost full and barely anyone laughed throughout most of the film. It just wasn't funny because almost every joke was too silly or too stupid to make anyone with any type of brain laugh. And the amount of gay jokes in "Talladega Nights" was unbelievable and none of them worked. Its like "oh that Girard is a French guy and is gay oh man that's so funny!" Really it's not funny at all and people who laugh at stuff like this aren't mature enough to realize that things like this at this point in time aren't funny and are just recycled jokes used from previous films.
As much as people love Will Ferrell even his biggest fans have to admit "Bewitched" was an awful film and "Kicking and Screaming" was very average. So at this point, I am not surprised to see him in this bad of a role. But why John C. Reilly? The man is a great actor and I can't understand for a second how he read this script and said wow this is one funny script. I mean his character Cal was so incredibly dumb even dumber than Ricky Bobby if that's even remotely possible. I also wonder how Amy Adams got involved with this. The last film I seen her in was "Junebug" where she was nominated for an Oscar based on her performance. So is that what you do after you almost win an Oscar? You take the next script that is handed to you without reading it? I just couldn't believe two people with so much talent could work on a movie that was so moronic and meaningless.
I am beginning to wonder if Adam McKay is a one hit wonder. I know this is really only his second film after "Anchorman" but this film was really that bad. It actually seemed like a rehash of "Anchorman" although instead of being about a news station it was about NASCAR drivers. It just didn't work and I don't get how Ferrell and McKay who wrote the script together could find most of this film to be amusing. To me the blatant product placement was the funniest thing about the movie as well as all the scenes in the commercials including the "help me Jesus, help me Oprah, help me Tom Cruise" line but other than that this movie really didn't make me laugh. I also didn't understand why a comedy that was this stupid had a 2 hour running time. Usually when movies are this dumb they run no longer than 95 minutes however this film was about two hours and just dragged on and on.
Bottom line, even if you're a fan of Will Ferrell I would wait for video for this one. Most of the material used in this movie is about ten years old and almost all of the jokes fall flat. "Talladega Nights" is definitely not one of Will Ferrell's better films and in my opinion is probably one of the worst films I have ever seen him in. If you feel like spending $5-$10 on a ticket to a movie where all its best jokes are in the commercial, then see "Talladega Nights!" If not save your $5-$10 and go see something else or rent "Anchorman" again because in all honesty "Talladega Nights" is not worth your time nor your money.
MovieManMenzel's final rating for "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" is a 3 out of 10. Definitely not Will Ferrell's best.