While I recognize the comedic genius of Will Farrell,
I often find him to be too much, and thus not funny. He was
incredible as George W. Bush on SNL, and he's often hilarious
in supporting roles, like in Zoolander or Old School,
but when he's the central star of a whole feature film, I get
tired of him, especially when his character doesn't instantly
grab me as humorous. Talladega Nights was the exception
to this rule.
The story is that of Ricky Bobby (Will Farrell),
an everyman from Texas, who, with the help of his best friend
Cal (John C. Reilly) becomes the nations leading stock car racer.
His position and lifestyle are threatened, though, when French
formula one racer Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) makes the
move to America to take on Bobby's record and title.
I had extremely low expectations going in, thanks
to my hatred and loathing of the completely stupid and unfunny
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy in 2004. Since
Talladega was another collaboration with co-writer/director
Adam McCay, I figured it would be more of the same schlock.
Luckily I was mistaken. The plot here was admittedly clichéd,
but some of the more humorous lines and gags are among Farrell's
career best. I think the reason many of these jokes are so effective
is that they seem to come from nowhere. Amid a particularly
uninspired story, these comedic gems pop up like a rallying
racer you don't even see in the rear-view.
Farrell's character was nowhere as annoying as
his previous R.B. initialed Ron Burgundy, and didn't lack every
ounce of humor like him either. While his particular character
wasn't as innately funny as Reilly's or even Bobby's wife Carley
(Leslie Bibb), he held the movie together, and allowed some
absolutely astonishing comedy to be delivered around him. I
was disappointed with Cohen's performance. For someone so good
at comedic acting, and faux accents, he did a very poor job
mimicking a Frenchman, and characterized Girard in a way that
fell short of the rest of the actors' performances. One would
expect that there would be excellent chemistry between Farrell
and Cohen, but these comedy powerhouses did anything but shine
onscreen together.
Talladega Nights isn't a comedy that
will go down in history as one of the best, nor do I even think
it's really that great of a movie technically or elementally,
but it was one hell of a good time. It's rare that I can be
so amused by a film that I don't pick apart all the elements
that might not be completely effective, at least not during
the movie itself. I hear rumors that McCay and Farrell are working
on another, similar comedy, and I'm actually sort of looking
forward to it, which is something I never thought I'd say before
seeing this film.
