MOVIE - "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby"

Stupid is as stupid does, and in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, stupid does 200 m.p.h. And in that driver’s seat, looking comfortable and even—at times—suave, is Will Ferrell (as Ricky Bobby), a picture-perfect model of stupid. Alongside him is John C. Reilly (as Cal Naughton, Jr.), who plays the dumber (but just as talented) version of Ferrell. The only person who doesn’t look comfortable is Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays the villanous French Formula 1 racer, Jean Girard, recruited to take Ricky Bobby out. Trapped in a preponderance of over-the-top negatives, Girard’s accent is mangled worse than Inspector Clouseu’s, his mannerisms are rigid and monotonous, and the fact that he’s gay just seems more like an acknowledgement of America’s own homophobic tendencies than a joke: it doesn’t work. Writer/director Adam McKay (of Anchorman legend) stretches these French-related jokes too far: they’re as repetitive as, say, racing a car around an ovoid track 500 times.

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