Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

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Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Promotional Poster
Directed by	Adam McKay
Produced by	Will Ferrell Judd Apatow Jimmy Miller
Written by	Adam McKay Will Ferrell
Starring	Will Ferrell John C. Reilly Sacha Baron Cohen Michael Clarke Duncan Leslie Bibb Amy Adams Gary Cole Jane Lynch
Music by	Alex Wurman
Cinematography	Oliver Wood
Editing by	Brent White
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	August 4, 2006
Running time	Theatrical: 108 min. Unrated DVD: 121 min.
Language	English
Budget	$72,500,000
Gross revenue	$162,966,177
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a 2006 comedy film about NASCAR racing. The film is directed by Adam McKay, who co-wrote the film with Will Ferrell. The film stars Ferrell and co-stars John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Michael Clarke Duncan, Leslie Bibb, Amy Adams, Gary Cole and Jane Lynch. Various Saturday Night Live alumni also make appearances.

The film was primarily shot in North Carolina including Charlotte, Huntersville, Cornelius, Cabarrus and Gaston counties. Additional filming was done at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Racetrack scenes at Texas Motor Speedway were shot at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, using a Porsche Cayenne outfitted with camera mounts on all four corners of the car.

The film is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for crude and sexual humor, language, drug references and brief comic violence.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Reception 4 DVD release 5 References 6 External links

Plot

Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) was born to "go fast". He was born in the back seat of his father's car, and raised solely by his mother Lucy Bobby (Jane Lynch) while his alcoholic father Reese (Gary Cole) is absent. Many years later, while working on a pit crew as the jackman for a race team, he replaces an uninterested driver named Terry Cheveaux (McKay) and ends up finishing third despite starting mid-race in last place. Ricky soars to the top of NASCAR very quickly, achieving both fame and fortune at Dennit Racing and meets his future wife, Carley (Leslie Bibb). Ricky then arranges to get his best friend, Cal (John C. Reilly) as the second driver of the team. While on top of the racing world, Ricky is challenged by a French classy gay Formula One driver named Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen). Girard outperforms Ricky on the track and becomes NASCAR's top driver. Ricky, desperate to regain his dominance, pushes himself too hard and ends up in a spectacular wreck, which ends with him believing that he's on fire, though there is no fire. After this, he persists in the belief that he is paralyzed, though he clearly isn't. He eventually recovers from his crash and tests at Rockingham Speedway, where he ultimately underperforms and loses his ride. Carley, yearning to be married to a top NASCAR driver, arranges to divorce Ricky and marry Cal, all before Ricky gets home that night.

Ricky takes his two kids, Walker (Houston Tumlin) and Texas Ranger (Grayson Russell), and moves back home with his mother, with James setzer as Walker's double. When he takes a job as a pizza delivery driver, he is quickly reduced to using a bicycle as his recent loss of confidence has stopped him from effectively controlling a car and losing his license. With his life at its lowpoint, Reese suddenly reenters Ricky's life. Reese tries to teach Ricky to drive with the fear he experienced. With the retraining and guidance of his father, Ricky gains his confidence back, but still refuses to race after Reese walks out. Ricky runs into his former assistant, Susan, at a bar. Susan convinces Ricky to get back into racing at the Talladega 500. The race ends in all cars being wrecked and Girard and Bobby running on foot to the finish line in their passion for victory. Both drivers are disqualified for violating race procedures and Cal wins the race, having been in third prior to the wrecks. Ricky and Cal finally repair their friendship and the family, consisting of Ricky, Susan, Walker, Texas Ranger, and Ricky's mother, meet Reese in the parking lot reuniting for a dinner and getting thrown out of Applebee's.

Cast

• Will Ferrell as Ricky Bobby
• John C. Reilly as Cal Naughton Jr.
• Michael Clarke Duncan as Lucius Washington
• Amy Adams as Susan
• Gary Cole as Reese Bobby
• Jane Lynch as Lucy Bobby
• Leslie Bibb as Carley Bobby
• Jason Davis as Waffle House Manager
• Lorrie Bess Crumley as Schoolteacher
• Luke Bigham as 10-Year-Old Ricky
• Austin Crim as 10-Year-Old Cal
• Houston Tumlin as Walker
• Grayson Russell as Texas Ranger
• Adam McKay as Terry Cheveaux
• David Koechner as Hershell
• Ian Roberts as Kyle
• Jack McBrayer as Glenn
• John D. King as ESPN Reporter
• Pat Hingle as Mr. Dennit Sr.
• Sacha Baron Cohen as Jean Girard
• Andy Richter as Gregory
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. as Himself
• James Setzer as Walker's double

Reception

The film grossed $47,042,215 in its first week, becoming the #1 film at the box office. It is the second-biggest opening weekend ever for an original comedy, after Bruce Almighty, and the biggest opening for a film starring Will Ferrell. As of April 26, 2007, the film has grossed an estimated $162,966,177 worldwide.^[1]

The film holds a current rating of 72% on Rotten Tomatoes, and 66 metarating at Metacritic.

DVD release

The film was released on standard DVD, PSP UMD and Blu-ray on December 12, 2006. The menu gives the viewer the choice of Super Speedway (with footage of the film used as intros when Special Features, Scene Selection, etc. is chosen) or Short Track (without video intros.) The film is presented on standard DVD in four different configurations, giving consumers the choice between either theatrical or unrated versions and anamorphic widescreen (2.40:1 aspect ratio) or pan & scan presentations. As for the audio, each standard DVD carries Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in English and French with optional English and French subtitles. Extras for the standard DVD editions include a retrospective '25 Years Later' commentary track featuring most of the main cast, deleted and extended scenes along with bonus race footage, featurettes, interviews with Ricky, Cal, and Carley, a gag reel, a 'Line-O-Rama' feature with alternate dialogue from the film, and DVD-ROM content. The unrated discs contain additional deleted scenes ("Cal Calls Ricky" and "What'd You Do Today?"), an interview with Jean and Gregory, and commercials. However, the "Unrated & Uncut" DVD omits two scenes that are present in the theatrical version; the scene where young Ricky steals his mother's station wagon, and the scene which shows what happened to Ricky's pit crew. The scenes are not present in the deleted scenes either.

The Blu-ray release is available on a dual layer disc with the majority of features presented in high definition including: nine deleted/extended scenes, three interviews, gag reel, Line-O-Rama, bonus race footage, Ricky & Cal's Commercials (However, Cal is not seen in any of the commercials), Ricky & Cal's PSAs, Walker & Texas Ranger, Will Ferrell Returns to Talladega and a theatrical trailer. There are also three extras not presented in high definition: Daytona 500 Spot, NASCAR Chase for the Nextel Cup Spot, and Sirius and NASCAR Spot. In terms of technical aspects, this edition carries the unrated cut and presents the film with an anamorphic widescreen transfer at its 2.40:1 theatrical aspect ratio and includes Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in English and French and an uncompressed PCM 5.1 audio track in English, along with English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Korean, and Thai subtitles.

The first 1 million 60GB, and 20GB PlayStation 3 units included a free Blu-ray copy of the film.

References

External links

• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby at the Internet Movie Database
• Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby at Rotten Tomatoes

Preceded by Miami Vice

Box office number-one films of 2006 (USA) 6 August 2006

Succeeded by Snakes on a Plane

v • d • e Films directed by Adam McKay Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) • Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) • Step Brothers (2008)

v • d • e Works of Judd Apatow Director The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) · Knocked Up (2007) · Funny People (2009) Writer Heavyweights (1995) · Celtic Pride (1996) · The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) · Fun with Dick and Jane (2005) · Knocked Up (2007) · Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) · You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008) · Pineapple Express (2008) · Funny People (2009) Producer Heavyweights (1995) · The Cable Guy (1996) · Celtic Pride (1996) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie (2004) · Kicking & Screaming (2005) · The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) · Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) · The TV Set (2006) · Knocked Up (2007) · Superbad (2007) · Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007) · Drillbit Taylor (2008) · Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) · Step Brothers (2008) · Pineapple Express (2008) · The Year One (2009) · Funny People (2009) · Get Him to the Greek (2009) Television The Ben Stiller Show (1992–93) · The Critic (1994–95) · The Larry Sanders Show (1993–98) · Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000) · Undeclared (2001–02) Related articles Apatow Productions · Seth Rogen · Jonah Hill · Paul Rudd · Leslie Mann · Jason Segel · Bill Hader

v • d • e Mediocre American Man Trilogy Films Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy • Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby Direct-to-video Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie Cast and crew Will Ferrell • Adam McKay • Judd Apatow • David Koechner

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