Funny - but more as performance art than as a film

Rating: 9/10 (5 August 2006)

I don't know that I'd enjoy this movie in New York or San Francisco, but in rural West Virginia it was absolutely hilarious.
A disclaimer: I'm a Southern white male. I was born in the South and live in the South. I wear cowboy boots, drive a pickup and prefer Bourbon to Scotch. I even like NASCAR and auto racing in general.
The movie wasn't hilarious because of the gags in the film, some of which are pretty funny, but because of the relentless parody of what passes for Southern American culture these days, and the reaction from the audience. It was clear that the majority of folks in the theater were expecting something more friendly to the NASCAR "lifestyle" and perhaps even affirmation of it.
I think the advertising gave that impression - a friendly caricature of NASCAR. Instead, it delivered a ruthless lampooning of the idiocy of fat-assed, fat SUV'd, inarticulate redneck-ism that is too often celebrated in the South. The bait and switch was a thing of beauty.
The movie touches on just about every aspect of the NASCAR persona, and hits very close to home in its ridicule. From the drug dealing sleazy father to the obnoxious children and the floozy trophy wife, Talladega Nights hits the mark on recognizable characters from around the corner, and then illustrates their hypocrisy and ugliness in great detail. The film grinds and grinds on the awfulness of the characters - none of them are likable or have an iota of merit. I think to many people, this will feel like overdoing the material or just going on too long in certain scenes. In the theater I sat in, it was a delicious silence of self-recognition in the audience and discomfort at seeing themselves mirrored in such unflattering terms. Some left fairly early. Some tried to cheer or find humor in the ironic "victories" of the characters or their insipid jokes ("shake and bake" actually got laughs and cheers...) but eventually, the audience realized that they were the targets of the film and that there would be no redemption for their on-screen avatars.
The piece de resistance was the final race in which Ricky Bobby defeats Jean, a homosexual ex Formula 1 driver who earlier defeated Ricky Bobby in a barroom brawl. Ricky Bobby overcomes all odds to defeat Jean in their private competition by an inch, perhaps signaling the hoped-for feel good ending for our beleaguered audience, but instead Ricky Bobby passionately kisses the Frenchman, making clear the latent homosexuality of his long standing relationship with boyhood friend and sidekick Cal is quite real. Silence in the theater - stunned utter silence except my son and I howling.
The South gave us the Blues, the best American foods, wonderful literature and poetry, rock music and so much else that is beautiful and essential to the American identity and culture. It is a damned shame that its most ignorant and ugly aspects have defined it for so long. I loved that this film so clearly and aggressively attacked the awfulness of the Walmart South.
If you want to laugh hard, go see this film well south of the Mason Dixon and preferably away from a major metro. That is where it is at its best.