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Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is rather significant. Why? Because it is the first team up of Will Farrell and John C. Reily on the big screen. Released in 2006, Talladega Nights was released at a great time. Back when Will Farrell was at his height in the film industry and back when NASCAR was pretty popular. It only seemed that a movie should be made in hopes of making lots of money. And it did. Talladega Nights had a budget of $72.5 million and made back over double that amount. For the longest time I thought that Step Brothers was the better team up but since my opinion has slightly changed over that film alone, will Talladega Nights see a change in opinion?

Ricky Bobby has lived his whole life by the motto of "If you ain't first, you're last". Ricky Bobby is also a NASCAR driver and possibly the best there is. When a new race driver named Jean Girard comes to race, it seems that Ricky has met his match. A wreck occurs and Ricky is thought to be done with racing, but the Talladega race is coming around the corner, and Ricky wants to race. But most importantly, win.....

Again, for the longest time, I always saw Step Brothers as the better Reily and Ferrell film. But that has changed. I am not saying that this is leaps and bounds better than Step Brothers. I like Step Brothers and I like this film. But this film is not really a piece of art. The acting is fine. The actors feel right in their respective roles and to a point that I honestly forgot that Will Ferrell does not have a southern accent. Oscar worthy? No, considering the tough competition and what not, but still good. The characters themselves are fine too. They mostly follow the typical sterotypes which is something that some people say made NASCAR look bad. But, they all have chemistry and are loads of fun to watch. Especially Reily and Ferrell which is great that they did Step Brothers together. The story is considerably better in this film than Step Brothers as it is more complex and has an actual plot and what not. The comedy is good. Whereas Step Brothers took the really potty mouth approach, Talladega Nights is not quite as potty mouth with it's humor. Again, it is that dumb smart humor which actually works best in this film. Almost because it is a sort of satire in a way. I found myself laughing more than in Step Brothers which was the big deal about me changing my mind about how this film compares to Step Brothers. Not nearly as quotable as Step Brothers, but just the scenes by themselves are memorable.

Talladega Nights is a funny film. Some prefer Step Brothers over this film which is fine. If you are a fan of Will Ferrell and/or racing, this film should entertain you.

This movie does something that is rarely done successfully done, pokes fun at the modern NASCAR circuit. Without detailing all the gags, this is pure fun which doesn't offend the tastes too often. Will Farrell is patently absurd as Ricky Bobby & the support he receives in this film from the entire cast is excellent. Gary Cole is very solid as Ricky's dad, & so is Jane Lynch as his mom. Amy Adams is solid too. In fact, the entire cast including John C. Reilly seems to have been fit into their roles like gloves.

Sasha Cohen comes off better in this as Ricky Bobbys French nemesis than he does in even Borat. He is used perfectly & fits his role really well. The story line works really well as the evolution from speed too shake & bake too magic man & me helps keep the film focused on something besides the jokes. There is just enough plot to hang the jokes on.

The script is lots of fun with references to lots of things besides NASCAR & Sex (which is all too often the only thing done as comedy today). This film proves that outrageous is much better than sex when done right as comedy. Thank goodness this is much better than the ill conceived BETWITCHED Farrell did in 2005. This film is really an excellent showcase for everyone involved. If your a NASCAR fan, you should even get some extra fun out of this one.

Get ready for the checkered flag Ricky Booby, this film is a winner all the way.

When looking at the merits of a movie and decide whether it is good or not, one must think of the goal of the picture. Is it a serious film, designed to comment on society, or is the movie's job to merely entertain? I think we all know the answer to this one when it comes to Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. This movie's goal is to entertain the audience, make them laugh, make them spend an hour and a half rejoicing in talented comedians doing their job well. And this movie reached its goal. Not only is this movie an above-average sports movie (it even concludes with a big race and a warm and fuzzy winner!), but is also a very funny movie. All I had to do was listen to the reaction of the sold out theater I was in and I knew that most people will find this movie to be very funny. Will Ferrell is Ricky Bobby, a NASCAR driver who makes up one half of "Shake and Bake," with John C. Reilly's Cal Naughton, Jr. being the "Bake" half of the duo. They are childhood friends who have now become teammates on the top NASCAR level, where Cal sets up the play that lets Ricky win almost every race--that is, unless Ricky has already crashed out of it. Talladega Nights follows the same story arc that Days of Thunder did, but is far more entertaining, as Ferrell and Reilly work together to bring humor to all parts of the racer's lives, including a bizarre dinner ritual that includes corporate sponsorship. Sure, the movie slows down for about 20 minutes in the middle to develop plot, but that may have been designed to give us, the audience, a break, allowing us to get ready for the final scenes of the movie. Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G, Borat) plays the French Formula 1 driver who threatens to oust Ricky Bobby as the best driver on the track, perhaps the funniest overall character in the movie. There is not one scene with Cohen in it that isn't funny. After watching this movie, it is clear why Will Ferrell takes his comedies so seriously (watch the extras on the Elf DVD to see Ferrell between scenes, he's not always "on" playing the clown on set)--he gets the results he's looking for. This movie is laugh-out-loud funny pretty much from start to finish, and seeing Gary Cole return to comedy as Ricky Bobby's father will bring back memories of Office Space for a moment, then this new character will win you over.

Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) and Cal Naughton Junior (John C Reilly) are life long friends and teammates on the NASCAR circuit. They are both the best drivers on the circuit and regularly finish first and second - this is down to their Shake and Bake method that they employ in order to take out the lead racer. Cal selflessly allows Ricky to win every time meaning that Ricky is dubbed the hero and is the one that hogs the limelight. However, their reign at the top is threatened by the arrival of ace French driver Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen).

Adam McKay has dabbled in satire previously with the original Anchorman film and its more recent sequel. These films were mostly successful in this respect as well as being reasonably funny. For me, McKay has been less successful when he's dabbled in other genres - his buddy cop film The Other Guys was beyond awful. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is McKay's satirical look at the sport of speedway which thankfully does work fairly well...

For me, Will Ferrell is a frustrating actor as I find that he can either be really irritating or fairly amusing. His performance very much depends on the material that he's given and the director that he works with. McKay seemed to allow Ferrell to be more natural in both Anchorman and Talladega Nights resulting in Ferrell being allowed to be funny and sort of endearing rather than being outright annoying likes he's been in other films. Sacha Baron Cohen is also excellent here in what can be described as fairly comfortable territory for him - he's essentially playing another quirky character with a ridiculous accent and most importantly entertains the audience whilst doing it. Baron Cohen plays a gay character here, but actually manages to make his character funny without being nauseating or over-the top (like he was in Bruno). Leslie Bibb plays the stock clichéd empty-headed shallow trophy-wife in such an over-the-top way that she's actually quite fun to watch. McKay's characterisation here is spot on and what they lack in depth they do make up for by just being fun to watch.

McKay takes some risks here by casting a character that's gay and actually making fun of the character for being gay but I found many of the jokes to be relatively inoffensive and many jokes here lean to being more suggestive or being used by way of double-entendre (which are arguably smarter ways to gain laughs). Ricky's foul-mouthed kids do grate a bit from time to time, but McKay does address this issue when the kids met their grandmother and she gives them some much needed discipline.

The film does lose some momentum in the second half when things start to fall apart for Ricky and we see him trying to re-build some of the remnants of his shattered life and career, but thankfully there are still plenty of amusing scenes (his dad coaching him and his scenes as a pizza delivery guy were funny and still helped to keep things moving).

All in all, Talladega nights may not keep the laughs consistently coming and at close to two hours it is a little on the long side, but despite the generous running time the film still moved along relatively smoothly and I still found plenty to enjoy here.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Rikcy Bobby is an incredible comedy that's gleefully stupid whilst also cleverly mocking the tropes and conventions of racing dramas. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are both incredible and have fantastic chemistry. Sacha Baron Cohen, Jane Lynch, Gary Cole and Michael Clarke Duncan are all great. It's consistently extremely funny even if a few jokes don't land. It's also well paced and Adam McKay's direction is excellent. Both the music by Alex Wurman and the soundtrack are really good.

In Talladega Nights, Will Farrell and Jon C. Reilly head a nicely assembled cast (without a lot of star power) in a story about a fool who happens to be a race car driver and who has based his entire life philosophy around a phrase uttered by his alcoholic father during a drunk - "If you ain't first, you're last". Ricky Bobby rides high in his largely unexamined life until, predictably, he eventually crashes hard when confronted with a gay French intellectual who just might be a better driver than he is, and a boss who does not appreciate his arrogance.

Talladega Nights uses a narrative and editing style reminiscent of the brilliant Deathrace 2000 to create an entirely different effect - unlike Deathrace 2000's intellectually challenging political and social commentary, Talladega Nights is a simple absurdist comedy played out by several stereotypes in the contemporary racing entertainment industry. The film is successful largely because of it's careful plotting and occasional substitution of slap-stick for (dumb) dialogue driven comedy. The script is nothing special, but was probably well edited in the final construction of the film in order to emphasize its occasional moments of brilliance. If you go into this without much in the way of expectations, you just might enjoy it.

It's a pretty funny movie. You could tell Will Ferrell and Sacha Cohen (aka Ali G) and John C. Reilly all had the opportunity to improvise lines and riff on one another, and all three were pretty good.

Ricky Bobby's kids were given some choice lines and nailed home some great (albeit loud and aggro) deliveries. Amy Adams is totally hot. The dad role was well-played. The car action was money and you couldn't quite tell when it was CG and when it was recreated action, so that was good. They did it right.

The overabundance of seeded advertising was acknowledged in the film's dialogue and concretely addressed at the end of the movie (when Ricky Bobby goes sponsorless0 but it was still kind of annoying. I just can't understand how Hollywood blockbusters need more money. They could do the same movie without the extra $$ I think, but in this particular movie, set as it is with NASCAR, it certainly fits in the world we see on screen if there is rampant, colorful advertising.

So it's a good movie, a lot of gut laughs, and not unlike Dodgeball or Anchorman or the like...

If you're in the right mood, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is absolutely hilarious. This NASCAR parody takes plenty of laps around the track of ridiculousness in order to get some laughs. It's obvious that Adam McKay just let the actors do and say whatever they wanted take after take until he found something he thought was funny. And there are plenty of quotable moments from this movie. That being said, this movie is an acquired taste, and the outlandish story & acting are sure to annoy some. I was glad to ride with Ricky Bobby once again, but I didn't find it as funny as I used to.

I was lucky enough to be at a premiere in Chicago for this movie and it was pure fun entertainment. I am not a nascar fan and I love this movie. First off let me say that most of the scenes that they show in the previews are not in the movie, or are at least altered from the trailer version. The characters are extremely funny. John C. Reily and Will Farrell make a perfect red-neck match in this comedy. They play off each other and you can tell that they must have had a blast making this movie. The scene where they are saying grace around the table will, in my opinion, go down as one of the funniest scenes ever. I rank this movie right up there with other will Farrell greats like Old School, Wedding Crashers and Anchorman. So, whether you are a will Farrell fan or not, if you just enjoy fun movies that will have you laughing out loud from start to finish, than you should definitely go check this movie out when it comes out. I will be the guy in the front of the line waiting to get my ticket to see this movie again. A+

Will Ferrell and John C Reilly at their best. Arguably the two's greatest collaboration in the fierce, fast and extremely funny Talladega Nights, which teaches us all, in life, if you ain't first... you're last.

Ricky, a NASCAR racing sensation, is the number one racer in the world. After Jean beats him in a race and becomes the top racer, Ricky tries to regain his dominance.

The full title adding 'The Ballad of Ricky Bobby' - Talladega Nights referencing the city of Alabama and its famous Superspeedway, a landmark of NASCAR racing and a site where champions are made. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay (whom also directs) write the film; the script is hilarious, unforgettable scenes are overrun by unforgettable lines in what will have you attempting to ask someone what is the "capital of North Carolina" in a rich Eastern American accent - the writing matches the enthusiasm of all the cast, a signature role for Jack McBrayer and David Koechner as well as Sacha Baron Cohen and Amy Adams showing their versatility in acting alongside Ferrell and Reilly who seemingly bounce off one another and the vibrancy on screen appears almost improvised.

The storyline is lacking any severe quality, but ultimately, it has no right to, the film advertises a comedy and it successfully makes an audience laugh while also keeping them engrossed in the picture. The anti-climax of Gary Cole's return to Jane Lynch and the grandkids, as well as Amy Adams' rise to prominence prove comforting and sentimental moves that even surprise us viewers, but what doesn't, is that McKay and Ferrell strike a beauty - one of their finest, one of a kind.

108 minutes of sensational entertainment.

Will Ferrell at his best.

Seriously… Here, Ferrell plays a good ole country boy with rocks for brains and only one worry in the world and that's winning. Sound like a familiar past TV character of his? Ferrell is also a Writer on this film with Director Adam McKay, who together have made a solid comedy team since those SNL days, including 2004's "Anchor Man." But standing just as tall in this picture is the surprising man-about-town, Mr. Sasha Cohen (Borat, Ali G, Bruno) as Ricky Bobby's French nemesis, Jean Girard. This guy is such a great character actor it was difficult to even spot him at first. But who else would be brave enough to kiss Ferrell on the lips?

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Talladega Nights is one of those movies I was rather shocked I hadn't seen, it was high profile, I don't mind Ferrell's work and you see it referenced all time yet it's taken me this long to get around to it.

I expected generic Hollywood drivel and it is, but thanks to some decent writing (In places) I'd say it's an above par effort (Just).

With a vast who's who cast and co-written by Ferrell himself this tells the story of Nascar driver Ricky Bobby as he reaches the pinnacle of the industry only to lose it all when a rival turns up and takes his spot.

With Greg Germann playing the same character he always does, namely the really easy to hate villainous type and Sacha Baron Cohen whom I simply cannot abide for some reason. Regarding him I have to say I admire his work and him as a human being, I just can't stand him in anything I've seen thus far!

The film adopts all the usual tropes you'd expect and is hugely paint by numbers, it's incredible cast feel rather wasted though it was really nice to see Gary Cole as it always is.

Some of the writing caught me off guard with how good it was, sadly that only happened 3-4 times and the rest is really generic stuff.

If you like standard Hollywood comedy you can do worse, if you want something you haven't seen a hundred times before then hop, skip and jump over it.

The Good:

Gary Cole

Some surprisingly good humor

Some great songs on the soundtrack

The Bad:

Sacha Baron Cohen

Usual formula

Ricky Bobby grows up to become a big-time race car driver. With the conflict of having no father to raise him, life was not always easy. And now, as an adult, he is finally ready to meet his match: a French driver from the Formula Un series. Can Ricky make him surrender? Shake and bake! I really don't want to like this film, because I think Will Ferrell is past his prime already and on his way out. The bigger a role he receives, the less likely he is to make a good movie, because he is just such a dumb actor. Popping in for a brief time ("Wedding Crashers") is alright, but a full movie ("Elf")? I don't know. Yet, he took the whole film here and ran with it.

The help came from John C. Reilly, who was fantastic as Cal Naughton, Jr. While he is not the usual co-star of Ferrell (such as Vince Vaughn, or one of the Wilson brothers) he was a dominant force. Seeing some new faces was very good, although having "Crash" from "Anchorman" was a nice touch, as I would consider "Anchorman" to be Ferrell's best film.

Stealing the show was Sacha Baron Cohen as Jean Girard. I did not even recognize him until the movie was almost over. Cohen is a master of disguise ("Alig G", "Borat", "Bruno") and I would say this was his best performance yet. All the French references were great (Albert Camus, Perrier, crepes) and this character was so much more than just a simple parody of French culture. Why he was hanging out with Elvis Costello and Mos Def is unknown to me.

This film has the comedy that other films by these creators have, with constant pop culture references that pay off if you get it. And heck, if you don't, there's a good amount of really stupid humor, too (such as the imaginary fire). My favorite scene might be where they try to figure out how to pry out a knife from a man's leg.

If you want a cheese fountain at your wedding with nachos and seven different kinds of cheese, you need to see this movie.

One of Ferrell's stronger, fearlessly idiotic films, with the style his career is built on: comedy surrounding moronic characters doing stupid stuff.

Ricky Bobby, showcasing all the stereotypical characteristics of a redneck, is a loudmouth NASCAR driver of immense talent, who either wins or crashes trying. When a sophisticated but snooty French Formula One driver encroaches on Bobby's territory, he goes all out to stay number one.

Ferrell has a great chemistry with Reilly, a connection to be visited later in their careers. In general, it is a fairly star-studded cast, Adams thrown in with a fairly minor impact role for most of the film. Cohen is recruited to lean into a daft foreign stereotype, his speciality, but with no need for subtlety on this one, blunt jokes revolving around how the character's supposed superiority and often his homosexuality is responded to by the world of NASCAR.

Much like Anchorman and Step Brothers, the film is really ridiculous, loud and brash. Something Ferrell's fans will love, and that others would hate. Honestly though, the bloopers at the end are probably the funniest part.

You still get plenty of fast paced action, muscle cars, and massive car crashes. You just get to laugh a lot too.

Will Ferrell really doesn't get enough credit for his acting. As mindless as it seems, he still manages to make it believable. You have to keep in mind it's usually during over-the-top parodies, so it's supposed to be carefree and with complete disdain, yet he still manages to make it intelligent most of the time (at least in this film), so the result is far more than simple fart and gross-out type jokes.

He also had the benefit of writing this film, cast members like John C. Reilly and Sasha Baron Cohen, and a focus for the film in deep need of parody. NASCAR has been long overdue.

Trying to review and rate a movie like this is tougher than most might think. There are those Will Ferrell fans out there that'll eat up TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY. Then there are those that'll snub it as another foolish not-ready-for-prime-time-style spoof designed to engage our dumbed-down society. But there is a third reason someone might enjoy this rather ridiculous film.

Hopefully there are those movie goers out there that enjoy watching parodies of various lifestyles, and this is where Talladega Nights gets most of — if not all of — its comedic punch. That we witness a southern Nascar driver with all of his conservative leanings hanging out for everyone to see was absolutely hysterical. Ricky Bobby's (Will Ferrell) big house, multiple gas guzzling cars (Hummers, etc.), a wife who's gauged on breast quality, and two kids named after a horrible action series ("These are my kids, Walker and Texas Ranger") are all over-exaggerations on conservative values; you wouldn't dare see one of them driving a hybrid car, for instance.

The entrance of a homosexual Frenchman named Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat) adds an additional element in the American prejudice category, Ricky Bobby bashing Girard's foreign heritage while making a fool of Americans' naiveté ("America gave the world Chinese food!") The challenge of Ricky Bobby to overcome his fear of driving after a horrendous crash is only minimalist humor added to the film. It is, at its core, a spoof on modern southern lifestyle and conservatism, and that is what makes the movie work.

This movie is a perfect example of how the end of the world is near. I would rather stare at tree bark for 2 hours than to ever watch this worthless movie ever again. I can't believe how many people actually found this movie decent let alone label Will Ferrell a genius. Come to think of it, I don't think he's ever made me laugh. "HELP ME BABY Jesus!" <-- That's funny how? His acting is terrible and he acts like an idiot and other people love it. Brace yourself when you watch this movie, because you will think of all the other older funny movies that you love so much that will never be made ever again because crap like this keeps emerging to idiots all over the planet. It just goes to show you don't have to be talented, smart, or funny to be successful in Hollywood.