Reply #28: That's the book the gay French NASCAR racer reads in new film. [View All]

[Divernan]

Just saw Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Will Farrell plays NASCAR hero, Ricky Bobby and his nemesis is a gay French race driver who listens to jazz instead of country, flaunts his husband in the face of stunned NASCAR sports commentators, and is shown reading "L'Etranger" while racing. (The movie drags in spots, but was worth it just for the intense, loooong mouth to mouth kiss between Ferrell and the French driver - and thinking about how all the NASCAR fans who come to see the movie will react to it!)

Some posit that Camus' most significant contribution to philosophy was his notion of the absurd. It makes sense that a comedian like Ferrell would therefore choose a Camus book. One wonders whether some sarcastic wag in the White House selected this book when told to spin the public that Bush was doing some serious reading on his vacation. Camus was also a member of the Communist party and a pacifist - hardly someone Bush should brag about reading to his fundie base.