Ramblings…

In Melinda & Melinda, Will Ferrell plays a struggling actor who portrays every role the same way, with a limp – just like the way he portrayed King Lear in college. In real life, Will Ferrell portrays every role the same way, as the not-to-bright-but-lovable-guy-with-a-heart-of-gold, which is essentially the same role that made him such a huge star on Saturday Night Live. This is a hit-or-miss proposition. In certain cases, this works (most notably Old School and Elf) and as cameos in other people’s movies. Sometimes it does not (e.g., Kicking & Screaming, Bewitched, Anchorman).

Fortunately for Will Ferrell, it works in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. It works because in its essence, it is one long SNL parody of the NASCAR culture. It also helps if you do not buy into the NASCAR thing, or you are part of it, but can laugh at yourself. Usually, a film such as this has very funny moments spaced out between very boring and silly moments. However, Talladega Nights manages to keep those fallow moments to a bare minimum and has many, many funny moment.