Ricky Bobby Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Cinematical Seven: Favorite Will Ferrell Man-Children
Filed under: Comedy », New Line », Sony », Dreamworks », Cinematical Seven »
At some point this past summer, between all but consecutive viewings of The Dark Knight, I slipped into a screening of Step Brothers with the same tempered expectations with which I had greeted Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro -- and found myself equally surprised in the coming days and weeks and months by just how admittedly tickled I was by any of them (quoting lines was moderate on all counts). Mind you, I'm saying this as the guy who chuckled during Anchorman, sure, but not really enough to keep it on my shelf or call myself thankful for it.
That's nothing against our Eric D. Snider, and nothing against the star of each film mentioned, Will Ferrell (yes, he was actually Batman). In fact, with Step Brothers hitting shelves today (with reports of a wholly sung commentary track), it only seemed fitting that we go over his most amusing roles as overgrown man-children (Ferrell's, not Snider's). Because they're there, and they always will be, and the sooner that I admit to being vulnerable to his shtick, a better world this very well may be.
Ricky Bobby's Guide to Life
Filed under: Comedy », Fandom », Newsstand »
One of the perks of going on Christmas vacation away from home is that you find yourself reading papers in cities that you normally wouldn't stumble across normally. This week I managed to find Kristian Lin's wonderfully written "Ricky Bobby's Guide to Life (Or At Least The Movies) -- How Talladega Nights Explains the Year in Cinema" in the Fort Worth Weekly, a free paper in this part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.It's a great article that takes quotes from the movie (which I got for my brother as a Christmas present) and applies them to life, and cinematic offerings from the past year. He touches on just about every film offered up in 2006, including lesser seen fare like the Argentinian film The Aura, and the Iraqi war documentary The War Tapes, which both deserve a much wider audience.
Who knew that Ricky Bobby carried so much wisdom in his words? As much as we'd like to tip our bestickered helmet to the man who wants to go fast, Mr. Lin deserves the lion's share of the credit for this list which manages to be both humorous and thoughtful at the same time. It's not only a lesson in life, but a good year's end guide to the films of 2006, some of which you might never have even heard of. Give it a read, and start updating your rental lists and hitting the theaters.
Review: Talladega Nights -- Scott's Take
Filed under: Comedy », Sports », Sony », Theatrical Reviews »
Some movies are full of deep, intellectual insights, subtle nuances and brain-gravy subtext that just yearn for discussion, dissection and analysis. These films often prove difficult to review, because there's so much there that demands attention.
And then there's a movie like Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, which is just a big, fat mindless exercise in out-there humor, colorful lampoonery and downright silliness. Plus it's got that absurdist bent that comes part and parcel with Will Ferrell's best experiments.
I'll make it even simpler: If you've laughed your freakin' head off during the whole of Ferrell's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, then there's a very good chance you'll dig the guy's new flick. Only probably not quite as much...
Review: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby -- James' Take
Filed under: Comedy », Sports », Sony », Theatrical Reviews »
At first glance, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby looks like a re-iteration of the last film from star Will Ferrell and his writing partner (and director) Adam McKay, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. The jut-jawed clueless self-confidence of the title character; the moments of wacky flailing captured in the trailer; the colon-split title firmly positioning the film in the realm of the mock-mythic. And Talladega Nights is somewhat similar to Anchorman; it's also far superior in a number of ways, and serves as a nice demonstration of how story structure and stupid comedy can work -- and work well -- together.
Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) had a pretty simple childhood: Dreams of being a racecar driver, and a father, Reese Bobby (Gary Cole), who stepped out to get some milk one evening and didn't come back for about 10 years. Raised by his homespun, no-nonsense mom (Jane Lynch, in another deadpan comedy performance), Ricky kept hearing his father's words in head like a curse: "If you ain't first, you're last." In time, he became a NASCAR pit crew member; one day, fate gave him a chance to "go real fast" on the track, and now he's become the top winner in the game: Fame, endorsements and success.
But between winning races and thwarting the ambition of his co-driver Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly), between endorsing feminine hygiene products ("Maxpad: The official tampon of NASCAR.") and neglecting the raising of his sons Walker (Houston Tumlin) and Texas Ranger (Grayson Russell), Ricky may have lost sight of ... himself. The racing game is changing; a new force on the track, the openly gay French Formula One driver Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) is challenging Ricky Bobby's top spot ... and after a terrifying crash, Ricky Bobby has to rebuild his life.
Talladega Nights trailer
Filed under: Comedy », New Releases », Movie Marketing »
Even without knowing anything about the movie's credits, the fact that the main
character in Talladega Nights is named "Ricky
Bobby" should be enough to let anyone know that the movie was written by Adam McKay and Will
Ferrell. You see, the undeniable key to the brilliance of the previous collaboration, Anchorman, was the fact that the man's name was "Ron
Burgundy" - the movie seriously would have been at least 25% less funny with a different name. And "Ricky
Bobby"? Equally perfect. The new trailer for the movie, while perhaps less promising than the inspired character name, is nonetheless pretty funny. Ferrell's performance is pitch-perfect, a great combination of attitude and innocence, all thrown together with a nicely vague southern accent. Plus, there's the by-now-required scene of Ferrell running around in underwear screaming, so that base has been effectively covered. Though there are definitely moments of outright stupidity, the stupidity of Anchorman was so well set-off by its demented cleverness, I'm holding out hope that McKay will be able to work his magic a second time with Talladega Nights (which comes out in early August).
[via AICN]
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