Talladega Nights: One of the best kiss scenes ever in a movie

[jobycom]

No spoiler, you'll have to watch it.

Damn, it was funny. The no-fun DU movie snobs won't like it, I imagine. It's just a typical country-boy athlete struggles with the meaning of life plot, like Waterboy or Happy Gilmore. The humor only now and then rises above slapstick and absurdity, and there are some southern themes that I suspect non-southerners and non-rurals won't fully appreciate.

But there's some funny stuff. Product placement is a running gag, which fits with NASCAR, given how driven it is by sponsors. Ricky Bobby says grace at one point, and the whole thing devolves into a redneck theological discussion with such over-the-top product placement you can see the director winking. The acting in it, while not Oscar quality, obviously, is decent. Nothing challenging, but John C Reilly, Jane Lynch, Gary Cole, and the others can actually create and maintain a character.

I saw it in Austin, obviously. A highly educated by obviously southern city. People were literally falling out of their seats laughing so hard, and when the lights came up you could see people still laughing and wiping tears of mirth from their eyes. It's not for everyone, it's not the Cohen Brothers, and while there are times when the director avoids using a sledgehammer to drive home an obvious point, there is still nothing subtle about the film. The directing is, as you would expect, lose and inconsistent. It's just something to laugh at. If you are grown-up enough to handle that concept, you just might like this one.

[ZombieNixon]

1. OH MY GOD!

Here in Freeperville, the audience *groaned* through the whole kiss. I was laughing my ass off!! :rofl: Freepers got PWN3D!!!

[jobycom]

6. Being in Austin

the audience here loved it! Can't say more without spoiling it. But people were cheering. An older woman in my row literally slid out of her chair laughing, and her husband was laughing too hard to help her back up. Austin's not very freeper-ish.

[ZombieNixon]

8. Oh, yeah, Austin's the part of Texas I like.

:)

I liked the movie. It wasn't filmmaking at its finest, but it had some fun parody and was an enjoyable flick. And I've liked Will Ferrell ever since I saw a clip of him doing a Bush impression. :)

[SeattleGirl]

2. Thanks jobycom.

I've been looking forward to seeing this one. Sometimes over-the-top humor is just the ticket! And being a NASCAR fan, and having a father from the south (and who also raced cars), I bet I'll probably laugh my ass off at it.

[jobycom]

3. You will love it!

There's a lot you have to kind of like NASCAR to fully get.

[SeattleGirl]

5. It is most definitely on my "Gotta See It" list!

:hi:

[flvegan]

4. I'm looking forward to seeing this.

I'm a huge fan of WF (I think we operate on the same juvenile level). Thanks for the post!

[jobycom]

7. You're welcome. Yeah,

you're in right part of the world to "get it." I like WF, too. He misses the boat in some films, but in general he's on my level. He's as good as I've seen him in this one, with a couple of momentary lapses that are probably the director's fault. He and John C Reilly are a great team.

[flvegan]

9. IMO, Anchorman was his best to date.

I thought that really played up to his deadpan lunacy. Yes, he does miss it from time to time. I can't wait to see this one. The radio ads are hilarious!

[jobycom]

11. Haven't seen that one, for some reason.

I have huge holes in my movie-viewing life. I saw Bewitched, which I liked more than most people seemed to. I thought Will was a little dull in it. I kept thinking he looked like he was trying to be Jim Carrey, then I heard that Carrey was originally cast in the role, so maybe it was just written that way. I have an almost pathological crush on Kidman, though, so maybe she just overshadowed everything else in the film for me.

[JohnKleeb]

10. Gonna see that

I like Ferrell's movies. He wasn't my favorite SNL cast member when he was on SNL however I've become a big fan thanks to movies like Old School and of course Anchorman.

[Catchawave]

12. Love Will Ferrell !

Can't wait to see this movie :hi:

[Frank Cannon]

13. "Reeky Bubby!"

Whoever played that French guy is a freaking genius.

The missus and I just saw the movie and it was laugh-out-loud funny from start to finish.

[LostinVA]

14. It's King Julien from Madagascar

"Feel free to bask in my glow!"

[Frank Cannon]

15. Oh, my gosh! You're right!

That dude (Sacha Baron Cohen, now that I've looked it up) is truly a comedy genius. I laughed just about every time he appeared on screen.

And his voice was great in Madagascar, too. Thanks for that.

[jobycom]

17. Ali G, Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen--he's a riot! They showed a preview

of a ne movie he's doing just before Talladega Nights, called Borat. Even having just seen him, I couldn't recognize him. He's a brilliant comedic thespian, that one.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0056187/

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/xp-16655

Speaking in broken English, the mysterious man first told the decidedly pro-American crowd - it was a rodeo, of all things, in Salem, of all places - that he supported the war on terrorism.

"I hope you kill every man, woman and child in Iraq, down to the lizards," he said, according to Brett Sharp of Star Country WSLC, who was also on stage that night as a media sponsor of the rodeo.

An uneasy murmur ran through the crowd.

"And may George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq," he continued, according to Robynn Jaymes, who co-hosts a morning radio show with Sharp and was also among the stunned observers.

The crowd's reaction was loud enough for John Saunders, the civic center's assistant director, to hear from the front office. "It was a restless kind of booing," Saunders said.

Then the man took off his hat and sang what he said was his native national anthem. He then told the crowd to be seated, put his hat back on, and launched into a butchered version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that ended with the words "your home in the grave," Sharp said.

[TreasonousBastard]

16. I'll take your word for it, but...

I gotta say the trailers I've seen so far really turn me off.

Just for reference, I think the trailers for "You, Me, and Dupree" are funny, even though I don't have any great urge to spend 10 bucks on two hours of that. I imagine if I saw thew flick, I'd laugh, though.

But all I see in the ads for Ricky Bobby's saga are Ferrel screaming like a raging asshole banshee. Wassup with all those hystrionics? As near as I can figure out, some asshole who can't even ride a bicycle without hurting himself manages to convince himself, a NASCAR team, and Wonder Bread that he's a great driver and makes a bloody fool of himself on the track.

There's more to it than that?

[jobycom]

18. See it and find out

As I said, it was hilarious.

[Writer]

19. I just saw it. I was dying...

and I'm an uppity hyper-intellectual snob. :D

Anyway, if you love Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels," you'll love this movie. It's satire on social mores and social commentary is brilliant. :thumbsup:

Sincerely,

Writer, the uppity hyper-intellectual snob. :hi:

[Shakespeare]

20. I was just about to post something similar.

The writing is quite good, and the red state/blue state social commentary is spot-on.

I can't remember the last time I laughed so long and so hard at a movie.

You did stay for all the credits, didn't you? The Faulkner joke after the credits killed me.

My favorite subtle part of the movie: the Halliburton joke they just let dangle, almost like an inside joke, by setting it up and then doing nothing.

[Writer]

21. Damn - I missed it!

They rolled those outtakes before the credits... I was laughing all the way through.

Yes - Halliburton. What more can one say? ;)