Crazyball by Barry Wilner

Author:Barry Wilner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
Published: 2012-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

We learned long ago that Will Ferrell will skewer any subject, with sports being among his favorite topics to destroy. Nothing is sacred for the man who founded the website FunnyorDie.com, won the 2011 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and has as loyal a following as, well, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

So when Ferrell and partner in comedic crime John C. Reilly decided to annihilate NASCAR, well, it might not be Crazyball, but it’s wild stuff with a good ol’ boy flavor.

The speed demons also hilariously drive deep into the corners of gay-bashing (with ultimate acceptance of all lifestyles), home-wrecking, loyalty, patriotism, and, because it’s NASCAR, sponsorships. Just think how many times we saw Wonder Bread (Ricky Bobby), Old Spice (Cal Naughton Jr., played by O’Reilly), and Perrier (Jean Girard, portrayed flamboyantly by Sacha Baron Cohen) on screen. Those products got more exposure during the film than they could ever hope for in a real race. And they didn’t pay a penny to get it.

If only auto racing fans were the ones spending their pennies and dollars to see Talladega Nights, it would have been a hit. Had only Ferrell fans gone, it would have been a success. But the combination, along with the absurd action, drove Ricky Bobby and company to the top of box office charts in the summer of 2006.

“When we pitched the idea, the studios were lining up” Ferrell said.

Presumably not in front of his No. 26 car.

Ferrell’s dimwitted character, whose father abandoned him as a child with the words “If you ain’t first, you’re last,” uses that advice to climb his way to the top of stock car racing. Along the way, he befriends Naughton, who so worships Bobby that he gladly accepts “shaking and baking” to second place to his pal’s Number One—every time!

Bobby’s world is shattered first by the appearance of the “French Flamer,” Girard, a Formula 1 driver who takes NASCAR by storm. Then a crash takes away Bobby’s nerves and taste for speed.

“We had fun with the sport, but we didn’t poke fun at the sport,” Ferrell said. “It’s a mixture. We had a lot of people in early screenings, a lot of our kind of colleagues in Hollywood . . . who said, ‘Wow, you guys make the sport look great, like I want to go see a race now.’ It’s a comedy movie, so you want to go laugh at stuff that’s involved with NASCAR and that sort of thing.”

Classic Scene: Ricky Bobby finally climbs back into his car after his horrific crash, from which he was convinced he was paralyzed even though doctors told him otherwise. During that first practice at Rockingham Speedway, he immediately revs the car up to an incredible . . . 26 mph. Ricky thinks he is motoring along at supersonic speeds.

When the other guys fly past him, he freaks out.

“Am I on fire?” he asks as he climbs from the car in the pits.

“You’re not on fire,” everyone insists.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.