What happened to the star of Anchorman?

Rating: 6/10 (8 August 2006)

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby/2006/**1/2
Main Stars: Will Ferrell John C. Reilly Sacha Baron Cohen Gary Cole
Ricky Bobby is no 1st place earner.
Adam McKay (director of the very funny Anchorman and who has a little cameo in this film as a fat racecar driver) returns to direct this lowbrow and disappointing comedy. I did think from the same team that created Anchorman that this film would be a little worse or as good as its previous film but I know it wouldn't have been better. Having seen the previews, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that this film wouldn't be that good. It turns out my prediction was correct. I'm not saying this was a bad film. I'm saying it was not a good film. And it wasn't. It was fair to good. The first half of the movie was not funny except for the quote at the very beginning. It was random just like Anchorman but it didn't have the constant laughs like Anchorman did. It had laughs more in the second half when Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) kinda loses his driving racecar spirit. His quote is "I wanna go fast!". But when he thought there was no hope left his quote was more like "I wanna give up!". I thought the second half had more GIGGLES than the first half which had maybe one more besides the quote. There were definitely no LAUGH OUT LOUD moments. More frowning at how much they tried rather than succeeded. More laughs came out of Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly) than Ricky Bobby. Or as his arch competitor Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) would say "Ricky Booby". However Ferrell did succeed in a few scenes like pretending he was on fire and running around in his underwear with his flab jiggling. Then there's the father of Ricky Bobby (Gary Cole) who influenced his son to drive like a racecar driver- reckless and fast. Cole was okay. He was nothing special either. When Jean Girard comes in from the French Formula One to be introduced into NASCAR, Ricky Bobby's talents are put to the test. The urgent question that needs to be answered is "Who is better?". Ricky has that "If you're not first, your last!" blood in him from his father and Jean Girard is the assertive and swishy Frenchman that also has only to win blood. But what is his objective for coming to America? To be what? You find out. And his friend Cal who made up this stupid "Shake and Bake" phrase is also in this challenging match against the pompous Girard. He invented it because it rhymes and they're both verbs. And he thinks he is smart because he said it. Is our national hero Ricky Bobby going to be beaten by the gay Frenchman who has a husband? That's kind of unbelievable actually. I mean Ricky Bobby had a foul-mouthed tough father and he also has two foul-mouthed sons who were definitely taught their lesson the granny way. As I said before the movie was random with smiles and some minor laughs in select scenes or as a local critic would call them- sporadic laughs. Will Ferrell was definitely not the main funny star. It was actually more from his friends than him. And people in the theater were laughing like crazy at the dumbest most idiotic jokes. I sat there with a straight face until, as I said before, the second half. It was indeed funnier than the first half. The story was sort of original and extremely random kinda like "Family Guy" except less funny. So a fair to good rating for Will Ferrell's disappointing Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. I had low expectations for this movie to begin with but at least have Will Ferrell as the funniest character! Movie directed by Adam McKay.