Engagingly daft

Rating: 7/10 (4 April 2010)

I always approach a Will Ferrell film with trepidation: I think he is very versatile and talented actor, but so very often I dislike the parts he plays.
Ricky Bobby, however, is quite a nice guy. A little on the dumb side, but essentially decent. And the movie overall is fairly amusing - not that much in the way of major laugh-out-louds, but quite a lot of chuckling more or less throughout.
I know nothing about NASCAR and care even less, but this doesn't matter - it is simply a world in which to set the story. And, as is so often the case, there is profanity which I found fairly unnecessary - this would be my main criticism.
All the cast are good. The two boys playing Ferrell's sons get some fabulous lines, and Sacha Baron Cohen gives the most - 'ow you say? - individual French accent since Peter Sellers' Clouseau.
Good fun in an undemanding way.