Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 183
Fresh: 132 | Rotten: 51
Though it occasionally stalls, Talladega Nights' mix of satire, clever gags, and excellent ensemble performances put it squarely in the winner's circle.
Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 43
Fresh: 31 | Rotten: 12
Though it occasionally stalls, Talladega Nights' mix of satire, clever gags, and excellent ensemble performances put it squarely in the winner's circle.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 515,133
My Rating
Movie Info
When America's number one NASCAR speed-demon is issued a direct challenge from a gay, French Formula One racer with a hunger for the top spot and a mean talent for tight-cornering, the race is on to become the number one man in all of NASCAR in a full throttle comedy starring Will Ferrell and directed by Anchorman cohort Adam McKay. Ricky Bobby (Ferrell) is a national hero with a "smokin' hot" trophy wife, pair of borderline-abusively precocious sons, and an endless line of endorsement deals
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Cast
-
Will Ferrell
Ricky Bobby -
John C. Reilly
Cal Naughton Jr. -
Sacha Baron Cohen
Jean Girard -
Gary Cole
Reese Bobby -
Michael Clarke Duncan
Lucius Washington -
Leslie Bibb
Carley Bobby -
Jane Lynch
Lucy Bobby -
Amy Adams
Susan -
Andy Richter
Gregory -
Molly Shannon
Mrs. Dennit -
Greg Germann
Larry Dennit Jr. -
David Koechner
Hershell -
Jack McBrayer
Glenn -
Ian Roberts
Kyle -
Jason Davis
Waffle House Manager -
Lorrie Bess Crumley
Schoolteacher -
Luke Bigham
10-Year Old Ricky -
-
Austin Crimm
10-Year Old Cal -
Adam McKay
Terry Cheveaux -
John D. King
ESPN Reporter -
Pat Hingle
Mr. Dennit Sr. -
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. -
Houston Tumlin
Walker -
Grayson Russell
Texas Ranger -
Ted Manson
Chip -
Danny Vinson
Texas Ticket Seller -
Sylvia G. Lyerly
Texas Ticket Seller -
Mike Joy
Mike Joy -
Larry McReynolds
Larry McReynolds -
Darell Waltrip
Darrell Waltrip -
Jamie McMurray
Jamie McMurray -
Dan Cox
Bartender -
Bob Jenkins
Bob Jenkins -
Rob Riggle
Jack Telmont -
William Boyer
Rescue Worker -
Ruffin Copeland
Doctor -
Richard Benjamin
Reporter -
Matt Day
Pizza Delivery Boy -
Christoph Sanders
Pizza Delivery Boy -
Pete Burris
Police Officer -
Frank Hoyt Taylor
Frank -
Conrad Ricamora
DMV Officer -
Angie Fox
Waitress -
Jim Wise
Jim Bohampton -
Rebecca Koon
Car Wash Customer -
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello -
Mos Def
Mos Def -
Bill Weber
Bill Weber -
Benny Parsons
Benny Parsons -
Wally Dellenbach
Wally Dallenbach -
Jack Blessing
Jarvis -
John Baker
Ted Beamen -
Robert R. Lee
Talladega Ticket Seller -
Matt Coulter
PA Announcer -
Jake M. Johnson
5 Year-Old Ricky -
Jake Johnson (XVI)
5 Year-Old Ricky -
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All Critics (186) | Top Critics (43) | Fresh (138) | Rotten (53) | DVD (20)
A comedy with horsepower to spare.
'Talladega Nights': Deliciously Subversive Political Satire
Broad but not crude, dumb but not witless, clever but still snot-spittingly funny. Stupidly brilliant, in other words.
Top CriticOne of the stupidest and one of the funniest movies in Will Ferrell's career.
Essentially a string of gags loosely looped together, a set of absurd situations for the actors to clown their way through, Talladega Nights is an affable entertainment, both a celebration and a satire of lowbrow pleasures.
Talladega Nights may be brash, unbridled, even unhinged, but its cornpone humor is rich in parody, and its craftsmanship is superb.
You pretty much have to like Will Ferrell to like Talladega Nights, it's his film through and through. But if you do, you're in for a ride.
Never as entertaining as it can be.
Talladega starts out slow, picks up speed in the middle, and nearly crashes and burns in the end.
The movie takes a piecemeal approach that allows for several guffaw-inducing comic bits, but doesn't hold together enough for a sustained comic experience.
The script by Ferrell and director Adam McKay, a parody of sports biopics, takes the same freewheeling approach that served them well on Anchorman, but with a more mean-spirited edge.
Showcases Will Ferrell's comedy genius to perfection.
Playing to his strengths, star and co-writer Will Ferrell reaps many good comic moments early on in Adam Mckay's feature to compensate for a sluggish second half.
Wild, raunchy comedy about NASCAR culture.
i concur with everything bobby has to say about highlander
Will Ferrell and director/writing collaborator Adam McKay have carved out a comfortable comic niche in taking confidently clueless oafs and pulling the rug out from under the core of resolutely prototypical alpha male existence.
Check your brain at the box-office to enjoy this brand of politically-incorrect hilarity poking fun mostly at gays, women and the French, all aimed at a redneck crowd with an average I.Q. of about 75.
In Talladega, Mr. Ferrell finds his best role to date.
Though this is Will Ferrell's vehicle, it's a bright and funny ensemble cast that makes it fun.
Riddled with blatant product placement. Blades of Glory is better. Ferrell can't save this one. Sacha adds little.
The disappointment of this movie is not that we don't see enough of Will Ferrell. It's disappointing because what we do see, we've seen before, and better.
It's not that ethnic and cultural stereotyping can't be funny -- Lord knows the laugh industry would be nothing without them -- it's just that movies like this one keep punching the same buttons over and over again.
Audience Reviews for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Super Reviewer
This is not funny, Ferrell's worst by far, it may be because car racing just isn't a great source material for a comedy, I dunno. Cohen is very good as the French racer, he comes across quite well, almost like a kind of dastardly Disney baddie in the realms of 'Thorndyke' in 'The Love Bug' but the rest is just silly and simply unfunny.
The characters are all rather un-likeable too, it just seems Ferrell is trying to make a comedy out of every 'sport', and this isn't even an interesting 'sport', NASCAR is dull dull dull if you ask me, but I am British, if you like this type of racing you may like it.
Super Reviewer
-
- Chip: Ricky, remember: The fieldmouse is fast, but the owl sees at night.
-
- Reese Bobby: You've got to learn to drive with the fear. There ain't nothing more frightening than driving with a live cougar in the car. [...] If you're calm, that wonderous big cat will be calm too. But if you're scared, that beautiful death machine will do what God made it to do, namely, eat you with a smile on its face.
-
- Ricky Bobby: I'm Ricky Bobby. If you don't chew Big Red then f**k you.
-
- Ricky Bobby: I will not shake your hand, but I will give you this. [kisses Jean Girard]
- Jean Girard: You taste of America.
- Ricky Bobby: Thank you.
-
- Ricky Bobby: I dont know what to do with my hands.
-
- Texas Ranger: I'm all jacked up on mountain dew!
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