Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - PG-13

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Wild, raunchy comedy about NASCAR culture.

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Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language, drug references and brief comic violence Studio: Columbia Pictures Entertainment Directed By: Adam McKay Cast: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly Running Time: 105 minutes Release Date: 08/04/2006 Genre: Comedy

Common Sense Note

Parents should know that the movie includes relentless commercial product placements, by way of parodying professional racing's tendency to slap logos on every available surface. The film also features lots of bawdy chatter concerning a wayward father's lusty behaviors and his son's cheating wife. The hero's two young sons spend half the movie behaving badly -- talking back to elders, cursing, and damaging property -- as their father, a stereotypical "redneck" parody, encourages them. An arm-breaking scene includes loud bone-breaking noise; several car crashes are violent (cars flipping and smashing and catching on fire). The film includes gay characters who kiss each other and declare themselves married. Characters refer to drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes.

Families can discuss the terrible role models provided by the parents over subsequent generations. How is Ricky's father disappointing to him, and how does Ricky raise his own children to be lazy, selfish, and rude? What's Ricky's mother's role in the film? They can also talk about whether this parody challenges or reinforces stereotypes about NASCAR.

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Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs

Both vulgar and cheerful, like most other Will Ferrell movies, TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY is also slightly tricky. It makes fun of multiple targets, using equally obnoxious tactics. No one is spared: It mocks stereotypically "redneck" NASCAR culture as well as other groups (gays, foreigners, and intellectuals). It's a parody, but kids may miss the point.

Born to a rascally father Reese (Gary Cole) and goodhearted mom Lucy (Jane Lynch), Ricky early on falls in love with speed. Again and again, he tells any adult who will listen, he wants to "go fast." His dad encourages his ambition, but doesn't actually stick around long enough to instruct him, and so Ricky grows up to be wild and self-absorbed -- and Will Ferrell. He first appears in adult form working a NASCAR pit crew under the guidance of Lucius (Michael Clarke Duncan); when he gets his big chance to drive, Ricky goes very fast, revealing a talent for winning that is soon honed by his partnership with teammate Cal Naughton (John C. Reilly): They perfect a tag-teaming system they call "shake 'n' bake," by which Cal maneuvers on the track in ways that always allow Ricky to win.

Ricky turns out to be an ungracious winner, though. He marries a gold-digging busty blond, Carley (Leslie Bibb), with whom he has a couple of sons who are even more obnoxious than he is, and becomes a millionaire owing to endorsement contracts (the film takes repeated aim at NASCAR's commercial excesses). While he keeps Cal close, their relationship is premised on Ricky's superiority and his friend's abject subservience ("I don't want to win," chortles Cal good-naturedly).

All this ends when a challenger appears on the circuit. The French-born Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) is everything Ricky is not: literate (he reads Camus' L'etranger while driving), witty, and gay; he brings his husband, Gregory (Andy Richter) to see him off at races and to kiss for television cameras. He's also a very good driver and brutally efficient: On their first encounter in a bar, Jean breaks Ricky's arm, thus putting him out of racing commission. When Ricky returns to the track, he's involved in an accident so traumatizing that he believes he's paralyzed. Losing his riches, wife, and contracts, Ricky must then struggle back to the top of his heap.

While this story is simple enough, the execution is often startlingly maladroit. While there is plainly an enthusiastic audience for the Anchorman school of filmmaking, this incarnation seems more a string of skits (namely, opportunities for Ferrell to act silly, which he does well) than a movie per se. In fact, the closing credits over outtakes is the funnier version of this approach. So if you go, stay through to the end.

Families who like this movie will enjoy other Will Ferrell or "Frat Pack" movies, including Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and Steve Carell's The 40-Year-Old Virgin, as well as Bruce Almighty.

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Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content Women appear in skimpy clothing; references to Ricky's daddy's sexual appetites; Ricky and Carly tongue-kiss in front of their family; Ricky's best friend sleeps with and steals his wife; frequent references to "balls"'; Jean is flamboyantly gay; graphic reference to posing for Playgirl ("spreading cheeks").
Violence Slapstick falls (no blood); several car crashes are a bit harrowing (cars flip over, bang each and walls, catch on fire, with some disturbing point-of-view camerawork); Jean breaks Ricky's arm (loudly); Ricky's attacked by a cougar, who leaves bloody scratches and a ripped shirt.
Language One bleeped-out f-word; Ricky gives rival the finger; repeated uses of "s--t" and other obscenities.
Message
	Social Behavior Parodies NASCAR "culture" stereotypes, targeting Christianity (several Jesus jokes) and homophobia.
	Commercialism Movie features racing's relentless endorsements; products named and pictured include: Wonder Bread, Coca-Cola, Power-Ade, Sunoco, Old Spice, Mountain Dew, Domino's pizza, Taco Bell, KFC, Fig Newtons, Sprint, Applebees, Lucky Charms, Perrier, Hardees, Sprint, Sony Vaio, Visa, Sunoco, QVC, Kodak, Halliburton.
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco References to drugs (weed, peyote, crack); frequent drinking (team sponsor is malt liquor; champagne popped after races; race team owner's wife is always drunk) and some cigarette and cigar smoking.