How to comment on this film without mentioning Days of Thunder? Answer: I can’t.
In fact, not only is Days of Thunder mentioned in the film, but the entire plot seems to have been borrowed. Sort of. I’ve not actually seen Days of Thunder for years, but there was more than a bit of deja vu watching Talladega Nights.
As a comedy, though, Talladega Nights does things for laughs. And thankfully, it is funny. Not amazingly so, but it still raised a grin more than a few times – a few because of Days of Thunder, actually. Will Ferrell plays the same character he does in almost every film he’s in (in a NASCAR suit this time), and Sasha Baron Cohen plays a totally unconvincing French F1 driver who has taken up NASCAR because he masochistically wants to be beaten by someone better than him.
Along the way, Ricky Bobby (Ferrell) goes from top of the game, to losing everything – his wife, the race, and the plot – before being coaxed back into the driver’s seat by his newly returned alcoholic absent father, who re-trains him Yoda style. Or like he did in Dodgeball. Again.
Funny, but nothing special.
Verdict: 3/5
