"Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" is from the guys who brought you "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,"
and the films have more in common than their similarly composed titles. Both have an arrogant and popular central character who is brought low by fate and forced to change his selfish ways. Both delight in non-sequitur humor and random celebrity cameos. And of course both have Will Ferrell. Ferrell is on the roster of actors whom you either find funny or you don't. It has little to do with the material. It's the delivery, the mannerisms, the overall BEING of the person. In "Talladega Nights," in which he plays cocky redneck NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby, Ferrell's demeanor is similar to his old George W. Bush impression: Southern, vaguely dumb and swaggeringly self-assured. He looks like a NASCAR man while simultaneously making fun of NASCAR men. (And yes, NASCAR fans, the point here is to mock you and your sport. Luckily, many of you are dumb enough not to know you're being made fun of. And if you take offense at that statement, just assume you're not one of the people included in the word "many.")
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