Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
December 19th, 2006
I almost stopped watching this in the first half hour. It parodies American car-racing culture, a culture so ridiculous that it is almost beyond parody. Starring Will Ferrell (Saturday Night Live, Elf) as Ricky Bobby, a Nascar race-car driver with two first names.
Just when I was about to call it a night, a new character showed up and took the movie to another level. Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) plays Jean Girard, an effete homosexual French race-car driver with two first names, who has come to America from “Formula Un” to challenge Ricky Bobby for racing supremacy. He reads Camus and drinks espresso while he is driving. Cohen’s French accent is even worse than his Kazakh. He is very funny.
I stayed for the whole movie because of Cohen, but in the end I do not specially recommend it. OK if you want an evening of mindless fun with easy potshots at US redneck culture. (And France.)
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