Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY (PG-13)

MOVIE BIASES: Have you SEEN "Anchorman?" Pre-sold!

MAJOR PLAYERS: Co-writer/actor Will Ferrell (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy), John C. Reilly (Boogie Nights), Sacha Baron Cohen (TV's "Da Ali G Show"), Gary Cole (Office Space), and co-writer/director Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)

"I wanna go fast!" From four to forty, Ricky Bobby's (Ferrell) life has always been about speed. Living under such mantras from his boozing, absentee father (Cole) like "It's the fastest who gets paid, the fastest who gets laid" and "If you ain't first, you're last," is it any surprise that he turned out the way he did? NASCAR's winningest driver and number one endorsement draw, Ricky Bobby, and his fist
tapping, sycophantic "shake and bake!" buddy Cal Naughton, Jr. (Reilly) see their inseparable one-two bond severely shaken by the advent of very smug, very gay, very determined French driver Jean Girard (Cohen) and a career-altering crash where Ricky Bobby just about loses his ride, if not his mind.

Boasting too many hysterical one-liners and sight gags to list, "Ricky Bobby" is one long improve-a-thon that showcases the considerable talents of Second City alums McKay and Ferrell. Apparently with the full blessing of NASCAR (and Wonder Bread and Perrier and Old Spice, etc.), "Ricky Bobby" is like "Anchorman" on the cream and the clear, so hopped up with comedy, a Tour de France doping committee should check its B sample. Having written this cult classic in the making, McKay and Ferrell restrain themselves by the thinnest of plots and an
orgy of laughs. Whether he's nailing the accent or spewing out the cluelessly stalwart spirit of Dubya, Ferrell is at his slapsticky, top-of-the-dome best. Despite his being a walking billboard DOES make him a perpetual sight gag, it's Ferrell's incisively tense eyes that show the range of the man, from his selfish, hellacious, win-or-die attitude he carries around like a silver star to his understandably
real anguish at having a deadbeat, alcoholic, fast-driving dad (Dubya with daddy issues? Imagine that.).

Gary Cole (in another fine, indelible supporting performance) and the support play just as big a role. Talk about having to be ready to go (fast)! Leslie Bibb as white trash on the come-up trophy wife Carley Bobby; John C. Reilly as Ricky's best friend to the point of self-flagellation Cal; and the potty-mouthed, twin redheaded terrors of Houston Tumlin and Grayson Russell as Ricky Bobby's sons Walker and
Texas Ranger ("If we wanted sissies, we woulda named 'em Dr. Quinn and Medicine Woman!") - the most obnoxious kids this side of "My Sweet Sixteen" - all take turns at grand scene theft larceny. Whatever comedic scenery left unchewed by Ferrell, Cole, and Cohen gets devoured in short order by this group.

Will some people be offended by the fast and loose characterizations of those mythical sister-screwin', mayonnaise sandwich-eatin', moonshine-swillin' flyover state middle Americans? Probably. Wouldn't be good comedy unless someone was pissin' themselves or just plain pissed off. But McKay and Ferrell, in their effort to include everyone in on the joke (there's more black people in this NASCAR world than you've ever seen in the last decade of the Left Turn Only Circuit - combined), remind us that if we see someone we know in this hedonistically glory-seeking, numero uno farce, that's because we all, at one time or another, unite under similar, comforting, singular Ricky Bobby Amerispeak. We're number one! And we wanna go fast.

@@@@ REELS
(FOUR REELS)
An urban legend/instant classic.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY (PG-13) MOVIE BIASES: Have you SEEN "Anchorman?" Pre-sold! MAJOR PLAYERS: Co-writer/actor Will Ferrell (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy), John C. Reilly (Boogie Nights), Sacha Baron Cohen (TV's "Da Ali G Show"), Gary Cole (Office Space), and co-writer/director Adam McKay (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy) "I wanna go fast!" From four to forty, Ricky Bobby's (Ferrell) life has always been about speed. Living under such mantras from his boozing, absentee father (Cole) like "It's the fastest who gets paid, the fastest who gets laid" and "If you ain't first, you're last," is it any surprise that he turned out the way he did? NASCAR's winningest driver and number one endorsement draw, Ricky Bobby, and his fist tapping, sycophantic "shake and bake!" buddy Cal Naughton, Jr. (Reilly) see their inseparable one-two bond severely shaken by the advent of very smug, very gay, very determined French driver Jean Girard (Cohen) and a career-altering crash where Ricky Bobby just about loses his ride, if not his mind. Boasting too many hysterical one-liners and sight gags to list, "Ricky Bobby" is one long improve-a-thon that showcases the considerable talents of Second City alums McKay and Ferrell. Apparently with the full blessing of NASCAR (and Wonder Bread and Perrier and Old Spice, etc.), "Ricky Bobby" is like "Anchorman" on the cream and the clear, so hopped up with comedy, a Tour de France doping committee should check its B sample. Having written this cult classic in the making, McKay and Ferrell restrain themselves by the thinnest of plots and an orgy of laughs. Whether he's nailing the accent or spewing out the cluelessly stalwart spirit of Dubya, Ferrell is at his slapsticky, top-of-the-dome best. Despite his being a walking billboard DOES make him a perpetual sight gag, it's Ferrell's incisively tense eyes that show the range of the man, from his selfish, hellacious, win-or-die attitude he carries around like a silver star to his understandably real anguish at having a deadbeat, alcoholic, fast-driving dad (Dubya with daddy issues? Imagine that.). Gary Cole (in another fine, indelible supporting performance) and the support play just as big a role. Talk about having to be ready to go (fast)! Leslie Bibb as white trash on the come-up trophy wife Carley Bobby; John C. Reilly as Ricky's best friend to the point of self-flagellation Cal; and the potty-mouthed, twin redheaded terrors of Houston Tumlin and Grayson Russell as Ricky Bobby's sons Walker and Texas Ranger ("If we wanted sissies, we woulda named 'em Dr. Quinn and Medicine Woman!") - the most obnoxious kids this side of "My Sweet Sixteen" - all take turns at grand scene theft larceny. Whatever comedic scenery left unchewed by Ferrell, Cole, and Cohen gets devoured in short order by this group. Will some people be offended by the fast and loose characterizations of those mythical sister-screwin', mayonnaise sandwich-eatin', moonshine-swillin' flyover state middle Americans? Probably. Wouldn't be good comedy unless someone was pissin' themselves or just plain pissed off. But McKay and Ferrell, in their effort to include everyone in on the joke (there's more black people in this NASCAR world than you've ever seen in the last decade of the Left Turn Only Circuit - combined), remind us that if we see someone we know in this hedonistically glory-seeking, numero uno farce, that's because we all, at one time or another, unite under similar, comforting, singular Ricky Bobby Amerispeak. We're number one! And we wanna go fast. @@@@ REELS (FOUR REELS) An urban legend/instant classic. Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com © 2004, Edwardo Jackson