Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (24 June 2007)

This is a film that could have been a laugh riot - and made quite the nice poke of fun for NASCAR and that circuit in general.
But this falls WAY flat - it leaves "funny parody" and becomes a series of half baked one liners looking for a movie.
The theme is interesting enough - Ricky Bobby was born in the back seat of a fast car which means he was practically born to race. HIs daddy leaves, his momma raises him, he has always wanted to "go fast". He has a BFFL (Best friend for life) who supports Ricky and they're in a pit crew. But RIcky gets a chance to compete when the lazy driver he's pitting for goes out to eat a chicken and doesn't care about finishing the race - and Ricky Bobby shows everyone what he can do. Eventually his BFFL gets to drive too - they create the "shake and Bake" and "slingshot" that puts Ricky Bobby on top. He gets all that comes with his new fame, a lazy well kept wife and sponsorships. Until a racer comes from France and takes over the winning pole from Ricky Bobby, and his BFFL takes over everything else from Ricky Bobby. This could have been a nice hokey little film but instead, it just goes down, down, down. Silly routines, a neurotic escapade that doesn't make sense, cameos that have no reason to be there in the first place, and the gay references that aren't really funny...flat, flat..FLAT.
All of this flatness could be because all those involved didn't know enough about NASCAR to properly spoof it. Or maybe there's stuff on the editing room floor that is funnier than the stuff that made it on the film. But to be honest, there ARE elements in this film you want the jokes to pay off for...and all I can say is that they just don't.
In other words....I am STILL waiting for a good, funny NASCAR spoof.