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Talledagha Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
This, I felt, was not one of Will Ferrell's finer films. He does a good job in it, and there are some funny parts, but even for someone who pays attention to NASCAR decently well (I haven't payed up attention as much as I did a few years ago) it wasn't an extremely funny movie.
Like a lot of comedy films, the characters ended up being too stock for my liking. Some stereotyping of characters is fine, but this film most, if not all, were stereotyped. There was the deadbeat dad who was a complete redneck hick. There was the dumb beauty and the cute but un-noticed friend. There was the best buddy who followed and went along with everything that his friend said. There were the two lippy kids and the stupid grandpa. While that might not seem stock, the way that they are portrayed for their characters, you can peg what type they are from a long ways away.
And the story itself was fairly cliche as well. I won't go into detail as to how it was so cliche, because that would give it away for anyone who wants to watch it, but the way things happen is extremely typical for the pseudo-sports drama type of film. It was nice that it added the aspect of humor to this film, but like I already mentioned, the characters were very much stock characters.
Another problem with this film is it basically only used crude/dumb humor. I realize that is typical for a Will Ferrell film, but compared to some of his other films, like Anchorman, this one is worse at it. There aren't really any subtle jokes. Basically all the jokes rely on shock value as much as actual created humor.
However, with that said, some of the shock value jokes are pretty funny. They get a little old as the movie rolls through, but they don't fail on all the jokes. So, it is a film that is humorous, but it isn't nearly as good as some comedies out there, but compared to the typical stupid comedy, it is pretty good.
Overall Grade: C
Acting: C+
Story: C-
Visual/Audio: C+
This, I felt, was not one of Will Ferrell's finer films. He does a good job in it, and there are some funny parts, but even for someone who pays attention to NASCAR decently well (I haven't payed up attention as much as I did a few years ago) it wasn't an extremely funny movie.
Like a lot of comedy films, the characters ended up being too stock for my liking. Some stereotyping of characters is fine, but this film most, if not all, were stereotyped. There was the deadbeat dad who was a complete redneck hick. There was the dumb beauty and the cute but un-noticed friend. There was the best buddy who followed and went along with everything that his friend said. There were the two lippy kids and the stupid grandpa. While that might not seem stock, the way that they are portrayed for their characters, you can peg what type they are from a long ways away.
And the story itself was fairly cliche as well. I won't go into detail as to how it was so cliche, because that would give it away for anyone who wants to watch it, but the way things happen is extremely typical for the pseudo-sports drama type of film. It was nice that it added the aspect of humor to this film, but like I already mentioned, the characters were very much stock characters.
Another problem with this film is it basically only used crude/dumb humor. I realize that is typical for a Will Ferrell film, but compared to some of his other films, like Anchorman, this one is worse at it. There aren't really any subtle jokes. Basically all the jokes rely on shock value as much as actual created humor.
However, with that said, some of the shock value jokes are pretty funny. They get a little old as the movie rolls through, but they don't fail on all the jokes. So, it is a film that is humorous, but it isn't nearly as good as some comedies out there, but compared to the typical stupid comedy, it is pretty good.
Overall Grade: C
Acting: C+
Story: C-
Visual/Audio: C+