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Mathew Scott

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Starring: Will Ferrell,

John C. Reilly,  Gary Cole, Sacha Baron Cohen

Director: Adam McKay

The film: Will Ferrell's  devious plan to take over the world of film comedy continues unabated and Talladega Nights plays to his strengths. He again - as in Anchorman et al - plays a dimwit who loses everything but fights his way back to a glory of sorts. And he again gets to run around in his underwear.

Of course if you don't find the sight of a middle-aged man running around a racetrack in his undies funny (he imagines he's on fire too), there's no point reading on. If you do - and you should - you'll be pleased to know Talladega is relentlessly silly, pointing its finger directly at the American world of  Nascar racing and  its image as a bastion for white trash.

Director Adam McKay was behind Anchorman and uses mostly the same methods to get his laughs - Ferrell takes the focus but he throws in an  assortment of oddballs to keep the laughs flowing. And basically a lot of the time they just talk rubbish. But good rubbish.

All you  need to know is that Ferrell plays a driver whose dominance is threatened first by a gay French Formula One driver (Sacha Baron Cohen),  and then by an accident through which he loses his nerve. His best friend (brilliantly  played by John C. Reilly, left with Ferrell) takes off with his missus and he has to return to his deadbeat dad (Gary Cole) to get his nerve back.

Baron Cohen shows he can do characters without the makeup and the fringe-dwellers are fantastic, none more so than our hero's foul-mouth offspring, Walker and Texas Ranger. Again, if you think that's funny, what are you doing waiting around?

The extras: Line-O-Rama highlights the freedom the cast were given in regards to improvisation, cutting together what was deemed surplus to requirements as the characters  go on their various rants and raves. There're deleted and extended scenes, a feature on Ferrell returning to the racetrack (a hero, no less),  more race footage, a reel of bloopers, and interviews with the main players, in character. If you have time on your hands, though, head straight for the commentary - it may just be a work of genius. The cast gets together '25 years later' and pretends they are putting together a commentary for an anniversary edition. Ferrell has become a down-and-out magician, Reilly the leader of a band of Michigan militiamen engaged in battle with the forces of Ted Nugent, and the director has died, to be replaced by his 'son' who is desperate to make a sequel. Ingenious and constantly inspired.

The verdict: Ferrell doesn't disappoint, but it's the support cast that makes the film an occasional laugh riot.



Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby