Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Adam McKay
Produced by	Adam McKay Will Ferrell Judd Apatow Jimmy Miller
Written by	Adam McKay Will Ferrell
Starring	Will Ferrell John C. Reilly Leslie Bibb Sacha Baron Cohen Michael Clarke Duncan Amy Adams Jane Lynch Gary Cole
Music by	Alex Wurman
Cinematography	Oliver Wood
Editing by	Brent White
Studio	Apatow Productions Relativity Media
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	August 4, 2006 (2006-08-04)
Running time	108 minutes 121 minutes (unrated version)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$72.5 million
Box office	$162,966,177

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a 2006 American comedy film, directed by Adam McKay and starring Will Ferrell. The film also features John C. Reilly, Michael Clarke Duncan, Leslie Bibb, Amy Adams, Gary Cole, Jane Lynch, and Sacha Baron Cohen. Various Saturday Night Live alumni also make appearances. Real life NASCAR drivers like Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. also make cameos as themselves.

Racetrack scenes at Texas Motor Speedway were shot at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, using a Porsche Cayenne outfitted with camera mounts on all four corners of the car.

Plot

Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) was born to go fast, and was raised solely by his strict Christian mother, Lucy (Jane Lynch), while his alcoholic father, Reese (Gary Cole) is absent. When Ricky was only ten years old, Reese shows up during Career Day at Ricky's school, but after giving his vulgar speech, Reese is thrown out of the school. Before leaving, Reese told Ricky: "If you ain't first, you're last!", a quote that Ricky commits to memory. Fifteen years later, while working on a pit crew as the jackman for his race team, Ricky replaces an uninterested driver and ends up finishing in third place, despite of starting mid-race in last place. Ricky quickly soars to the top of NASCAR, achieving fame and fortune at Dennit Racing and meeting his future and beautiful wife, Carly (Leslie Bibb). He eventually arranges to get his best friend, Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly), as the second driver of his team. While on top of the racing world, Ricky is challenged by his rival and French Formula One driver, Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen), who outperforms Ricky on the track and becomes Dennit Racing's top driver. Ricky, desperate to regain his dominance, pushes himself too hard and ends up in a spectacular wreck, during which Ricky runs around on the track in his helmet and underwear, thinking that he is on fire. While recovering from his injury, Ricky persists in the belief that he is paralyzed, which he certainly is not. Ricky realizes this, after a failed attempt to prove that he is paralyzed. Ricky's tests at Rockingham Speedway shows that he has lost his touch and fails to regain a spot on his team. Carly, yearning to be married to a top NASCAR driver, plans to marry Cal before Ricky returns home that night. Cal invites Ricky to his wedding to Carly, but his invitation was immediately refused by Ricky, angry with Cal for "wrecking his life".

Ricky takes his two sons, Walker and Texas Ranger (Houston Tumlin and Grayson Russell) to return home and takes a job as a pizza delivery boy, but is reduced to use a bicycle after losing his license for crashing his truck into a customer's shopping cart and the Sheriff wrote him the ticket for the previous incident. With Ricky's life at its lowest point, Reese suddenly re-enters Ricky's life and attempt to teach Ricky to drive by using the fear he experienced throughout his life. With his retraining and guidance of Reese, Ricky finally regains his confidence, but is unexpectedly taken back a few steps after Reese leaves him once again. Reese leaves Ricky with the knowledge that the quote Ricky based on his entire life around him was actually the product of Reese's alcoholism. When Ricky runs into his assistant, Susan (Amy Adams) at a bar, she convinces Ricky to return to NASCAR not because of his desire to live up to the expectations of those around him, but because of his nature to drive fast. While heeding Susan's advice to race at the Talladega 500, Ricky and Susan fall in love with each other. The race ends when all cars being wrecked, leaving Ricky and Girard running on foot to the finish line. Although Ricky wins the foot race, he and Girard are disqualified for violating race procedures and Cal wins the race by default, despite of finishing in third place before the wrecks. Ricky and Cal repair their friendship and family, consisting of Lucy, Ricky, Susan, Walker, and Texas Ranger to meet together with Reese in the parking lot and reunite for a dinner during which they plan to get thrown out of Applebee's, referring to the earlier scene where Reese and Ricky leaves each other again.

Cast

• Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby, a NASCAR driver who only believes in winning after childhood advice given to him by his father. Drives the #26 Wonder Bread car during the first part of the movie, and the #62 "ME" car in the final race.
• John C. Reilly as Cal Naughton Jr., driver of the #47 Old Spice car, Ricky's best friend and teammate until events following Ricky's career downturn end their friendship.
• Sacha Baron Cohen as Jean Girard, driver of the #55 Perrier car, the homosexual French Formula One racer who becomes Ricky's rival.
• Michael Clarke Duncan as Lucius Washington, Ricky's crew chief and friend.
• Leslie Bibb as Carly Bobby, a young woman who marries Ricky early in his career until his downturn results in a bitter divorce with her marrying Cal.
• Gary Cole as Reese Bobby, Ricky's drunk and alcoholic father.
• Jane Lynch as Lucy Bobby, Ricky's strict Christian mother.
• Amy Adams as Susan, Ricky's homely assistant who later on falls in love with him and helps with his career rebound.
• Houston Tumlin as Walker, Ricky's elder son.
• Grayson Russell as Texas Ranger, Ricky's younger son.
• Andy Richter as Gregory, Girard's husband, who is a world-class trainer of German Shepherds.
• Pat Hingle as Larry Dennit Sr., original owner of Dennit Racing, Ricky's team. His son takes over the team halfway through Ricky's career.
• Greg Germann as Larry Dennit Jr., the new owner of Dennit Racing who hires Girard to make up for Ricky's costly on-track antics.
• Ted Manson as Chip, Ricky's long-suffering father-in-law.
• Molly Shannon as Mrs. Dennit, Larry Jr.'s alcoholic wife.
• David Koechner as Hershell, a member of Ricky's pit crew.
• Ian Roberts as Kyle, a member of Ricky's pit crew.
• Jack McBrayer as Glenn, a member of Ricky's pit crew who often makes futile attempts to motivate the team.
• Adam McKay as Terry Cheveauz, a member of Ricky's pit crew and driver that Ricky replaces during his first race.
• Rob Riggle as Jack Telmont, Speed Channel commentator.

Cameos as themselves

• Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in a crowd asking for Ricky's autograph.
• Jamie McMurray, who loses to Ricky during one race when Ricky wins by driving in reverse (after which Ricky gives Jamie the finger).
• Darrell Waltrip, NASCAR on Fox commentator and Reese Bobby in the opening.
• Mike Joy, NASCAR on Fox commentator
• Larry McReynolds, NASCAR on Fox commentator.
• Dick Berggren, NASCAR on Fox field reporter.
• Bob Jenkins, Speed News anchorman.
• Bill Weber, NASCAR on NBC commentator.
• Benny Parsons, NASCAR on NBC commentator.
• Wally Dallenbach, Jr., NASCAR on NBC commentator.
• Elvis Costello and Mos Def as guests at Girard's party.
• David Prospect as a Ticket Taker, Fan, Press Photographer, Racecar Driver.
• Rick Benjamin, then-Speed News correspondent.

Release

Critical reception

Reviews for the film were generally positive. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 72% of critics gave the film a positive review, with the consensus being "Though it occasionally stalls, Talladega Nights' mix of satire, clever gags, and excellent ensemble performances put it squarely in the winner's circle." It has a 66 rating at Metacritic.

Box office

Ferrell at the premiere of Talladega Nights, September 12, 2006.

The film grossed $47,042,215 in its first week, becoming the #1 film at the box office. It is the second-biggest opening weekend ever for an original comedy, after Bruce Almighty, and the biggest opening for a film starring Will Ferrell. As of April 26, 2007, the film has grossed an estimated $162,966,177 worldwide.

Home media

Blu-ray was released on November 17, 2006 and standard DVD and PSP UMD on December 12, 2006. The menu gives the viewer the choice of Super Speedway (with footage of the film used as intros when special features, scene selection, etc. is chosen) or Short Track (without video intros.) The film is presented on standard DVD in four different configurations, giving consumers the choice between either theatrical or unrated versions and anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1 aspect ratio) or pan & scan presentations. As for the audio, each standard DVD carries Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in English and French with optional English and French subtitles. Extras for the standard DVD editions include a retrospective '25 Years Later' commentary track featuring most of the main cast, deleted and extended scenes along with bonus race footage, featurettes, interviews with Ricky, Cal, and Carley, a gag reel, a 'line-o-rama' feature with alternate dialogue from the film, and DVD-ROM content. The unrated disc contains additional deleted scenes ("Cal Calls Ricky" and "What'd You Do Today?"), an interview with Jean and Gregory, and commercials. The "Unrated & Uncut" DVD omits two scenes and one part that shows that are present in the theatrical version; the scene where young Ricky steals his mother's station wagon, and the scene which shows what happened to Ricky's pit crew. The scenes are not present in the deleted scenes either.

The Blu-ray release is available on a dual-layer disc with the majority of features presented in high definition including: nine deleted/extended scenes, three interviews, gag reel, line-o-rama, bonus race footage, Ricky & Cal's Commercials (However, Cal is not seen in any of the commercials), Ricky & Cal's PSAs, Walker & Texas Ranger, Will Ferrell Returns to Talladega and a theatrical trailer. There are also three extras not presented in high definition: Daytona 500 Spot, NASCAR Chase for the Nextel Cup Spot, and Sirius and NASCAR Spot. In terms of technical aspects, this edition carries the unrated cut and presents the film with a widescreen transfer at its 2.40:1 theatrical aspect ratio and includes Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in English and French and an uncompressed PCM 5.1 audio track in English, along with English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, and Thai subtitles.

The first 1 million 60GB and 20GB PlayStation 3 units included a free Blu-ray copy of the film.

Reaction

In homage to Talladega Nights, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards climbed out of his wrecked automobile after an accident from Brad Keselowski on the final lap, in which he hit the catch fence and skidded to a stop about 100 feet from the finish line. He climbed out of his car, and ran across the finish line on the final lap of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Aaron's 499 (at Talladega) to a standing ovation from the crowd. NASCAR on Fox play-by-play commentator Mike Joy commented how it was "shades of Ricky Bobby." Edwards was later asked about this on Larry King Live; he responded, "I'm kind of a Will Ferrell fan. He did that at the end of Talladega Nights."

In 2011, the video game Saints Row the Third spoofed the "Talladega Nights" scene where Ricky has to drive with a live Cougar in the passenger seat so he can learn to ride with fear. In Saints Row, the main character in the game (referred to as "The Boss") is forced to drive a jeep with a tiger in it so he could learn to overcome his fear.

External links

• Official website
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby at the Internet Movie Database
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby at AllRovi
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby at Box Office Mojo
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby at Rotten Tomatoes
• RICKY BOBBY Facebook