TALLADEGA NIGHTS

Sports adventure/Comedy

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Will Ferrell: Ricky Bobby, NASCAR race car driver
John C. Reilly: his teammate and best friend, Cal Naughton Jr.
Leslie Bibb: Ricky’s wife Carley
Amy Adams: Ricky’s assistant? Susan
Sacha Baron Cohen: former Formula One race car driver, Frenchman Jean Girard

REVIEW
Whether you like the movie or not depends upon whether you fall into one of the following categories
1. big fan of Will Ferrel
2. a teenager (the “target audience”)
3. a NASCAR fanatic

Since I do not meet any of the foregoing, sitting through the movie was painful. All around me I heard chuckles and even outright laughter at some of the dumbest gags and the most inane dialog to come along in years. Sexual situations, crude jokes and innuendoes were greeted with audible sounds of oohs and ahs. Must have been lots of testosterone in the theatre that night.

The story line is so predictable, the outcome is a given and the acting generally is pretty poor. And of course if that’s not enough, Will Farrel “does his thing” getting undressed and acting a fool.

By the way: the audience very much enjoyed all the stupid “outtakes” that are shown before the end credits. They should have been left on the cutting room floor where they belong.

CLASSIFICATION
for crude and sexual humor, language, drug references and brief comic violence.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
1..When Ricky is saying grace while sitting down at the table, his glass of lemonade is sometimes full and other times about one quarter missing.

2..While Ricky is being held down on the pool table, his fingers change position between the closeups and medium length shots. Sometimes his pinky is down the side, sometimes on top together with the rest of his fingers and in one instance his entire hand is grasping the inside of the rail and the next shot it’s laying on top.

3..After talking to someone on the phone, the caller hangs up on Cal and we hear a dial tone. The fact is the line goes dead when the call is terminated. The dial tone is only heard prior to dialing.

4..When Ricky and Susan are in the bar, neither one touchs their drink but his glass is sometimes half full, sometimes just a third and when Susan gets up off her chair and approaches him, it’s almost empty.

5..When Ricky’s father picks up the tickets to the race being held on Sunday he gets them from the ticket window clearly marked for the Saturday race.

P.S.
This movie beats them all in product placement. Chances are the producers made themselves a ton of money even before the first showing in a theater. It’s so bad there is a real ad for Applebee’s midway through. That’s a little too much.