Wanna laugh out loud? See this movie

Rating: 7/10 (31 July 2006)

So Ron Burgundy moves from behind the anchor desk to behind the wheel of a super-charged NASCAR automobile.
Or Frank The Tank of "Old School" gets a job racing cars. Basically it's all the same with Will Ferrell pictures. Insert the goofy, obnoxious man-child into any occupation, light the fuse, turn on the cameras and get away, he'll do the rest.
And even though this movie will not have the words "Oscar-winner" in front of it, it made me laugh  a lot; and that's what comedies are supposed to do, aren't they? The plot is pretty simple. Ricky (Ferrell) is born in the back of a Charger driven by his reckless father, Reese (Gary Cole, "Office Space," "The Brady Bunch Movie"). He grows up really stupid and without his shiftless dad, but always yearns to drive fast.
As an adult, he's on the pit crew of the worst team (Laughing Clown Malt Liquor) in NASCAR history. When the team's driver quits in the middle of a race, Ricky takes over and leads the team to a third-place finish.
From there he is unstoppable (thanks mainly to teammate and fellow driver, Cal Naughton, Jr., played by John C. Reilly), winning race after race and picking up dozens of endorsements. Soon, he has a beautiful wife (Leslie Bibb, TV series "Crossing Jordan" and "Nip & Tuck"), two rude, foul-mouthed kids and lives in a mansion.
He's also arrogant and continually insults his team's owner (Greg Germann, "Friends With Money" and a regular on "Ally McBeal"), until one day he finds himself replaced by an evil, gay, effeminate Frenchman (are there any other kind?), Jean Girard, a hilarious read by Sacha Baron Cohen (a voice in "Madagascar"), who's married to Andy Richter, Conan O'Brien's former sidekick.
While racing Girard, Bobby goes airborne and has a rollover wreck; he emerges thinking he's on fire. Later, he imagines himself as paralyzed, as well.
He soon loses his wife to Cal, his home, his job and his self-respect (and is forced to deliver pizzas on a bike). Enter Reese back into his life. His father tries to get him to drive without fear (by putting an angry cougar in the front seat with him); to "feel" the road (by making him drive with a blindfold on) and to go fast again (by taping cocaine under the car and calling the cops).
Ricky is now ready for the big Talladega 500 race, but will have to contend with both Girard and his former best friend, Cal, who is now the number two driver on the circuit.
Directed by Adam McKay, who helmed Ferrell's "Anchorman," (and worked with him on "Saturday Night Live") and written by McKay and Ferrell, you can bet this movie is one long laugh-fest. I'd call the script crude yet crisp, meaning while it has it's stupid moments, there are a few fairly intelligent gags, a well. These include Girard drinking café and reading Albert Camus' "The Stranger" while winning a race; and Ricky trying to explain the appeal of "Highlander" to him.
As crude as some of the other parts are, though, this is one of the funniest movies you will see this year, and gets a big recommendation from this humble scribbler.