comment #1

NYCBusybody says ...

I can't wait to see this, just to piss off feminized girl-men like Wells. Down with horn-rimmed glasses wearing simpletons at Starbucks, up with greenhouse gases and good ol' boys!

comment #2

Scott Weinberg says ...

I'm not even remotely a fan of NASCAR racing, but Ricky Bobby had me giggling a whole lot. It's not Anchorman-funny, but close enough.

comment #3

Gatrios says ...

Does Wells realize that this movie is made by a stone liberal who writes for the Huffington Post, Adam McKay?

comment #4

jesse says ...

Good point, Gatrios. Ferrell and McKay aren't dumb guys, and they're my reasons to believe this *won't* be a "dumb-ass redneck comedy" any more than Anchorman was a "dumb-ass frat boy comedy." That is to say, the redneck audience may eat it up (just as the frat boys can quote Anchorman), but that doesn't mean it's the movie's sole or reigning sensibility. Ferrell and McKay set up base on the line between smart and dumb -- Anchorman is "dumb" the way Wayne's World is "dumb" and they're both funny as hell. Punishing a movie because it might happen to appeal to some rednecks is silly.

comment #5

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to Gatrios: yeah, I'm aware of McKay's liberal bent and his background. He's a Ferrell guy from SNL and he also directed Anchorman. He's a fairly undisciplined anything-for-a-laugh guy and basically just another hip, talented opportunist looking to slurp from the trough (i.e., make big Hollywood bucks). I presume Ferrell and McKay are naturally going to try and satirize blue-collar NASCAR culture the way they satirized stupid newsmen, but their stuff is mainly about toothless dodo-bird humor. They're not going to piss off any red-staters off with this film. They're going to make fun of them and their macho car culture, sure, but affectionately. That way, their movie will sell a lot more tickets. Yee-haw!

comment #6

Scott Mendelson says ...

This coming from the only person who thought Dukes Of Hazzard was liberal propaganda. If you were making a movie based on What's The Matter With Kansas, it would have had an almost identical plot, with good ol' boy rich guys using their 'values' and a stock car race as a distraction to swindle people out of their homes... with big government judges stopping them in the end.

I digress...

As a liberal, it is sometimes hard to seperate the film from its intentional or even accidental ideology.

Cars may be a swell Doc Hollywood rip-off, but I can't get past the apparent red-state pandering and naive notions about small-town life vs big cities. Ironically, the reason that everyone was shocked by how good an actor Larry The Cable Guy was is that they didn't realize that his whole routine is an act, invented whole-cloth while he was in college (will see it soon, now that its at the cheap theatres).

I have not seen United 93 (I will on video, promise!), partially because, even though Greengrass is a liberal and we'd probably agree on much, we all know that his film will be used as an example of why we must 'stay the course' during the next election cycle (be couragous like the passengers in United 93... relect Rick Santoram).

Same goes for the allegedly terrific World Trade Center. Regardless of the filmmakers' intentions, it is another bit of ammunition that can be used to trumpet: 'heroism, courage, hope... let's honor their sacrifice by staying the course!' It's not fair to the filmmakers and it's not fair to the film, but everytime I see such images, in the trailer and elsewhere, I can't help but see the GOP election ad that will contain identical images to elect politicans who piss on the families and survivors every day through neglect and catastrophic social and foreign policy.

I feel the same way as Wells about Talledega Nights and that probably isn't fair to the filmmakers either. It IS possible to enjoy a film while loathing its message (I love Devil's Advocate, but am repelled by its 'some people don't deserve due process' message). But, it's always an uphill battle.

Not the most coherent rant, but feel free to share...

Scott Mendelson

comment #7

Daniel Zelter says ...

It sounds more like the film's making fun of red-staters rather than embracing them like, say, Jeff Foxworthy.

comment #8

Mike Gebert says ...

Soon everyone in Hollywood will trade their Ferrari in for a Tesla, and there will be no more global warming crisis, and we can just go see Talladega Nights (which strikes me as more likely to be a smart-dumb comedy, like Anchorman was) and laugh.

comment #9

Anonymous says ...

So Wells, if a movie doesn't share your absolute disdain for half of the United States, it's the work of hacks? Is that what your crystal ball tells you? I don't think you realize how stupid your black-and-white politics sound. According to your nit wit logic, everyone in the blue states is great and everyone in the red states is an illitertae moron? Ever notice how real people who explore the country and do something other than surf the net and attend movie screenings tend to have a far more nuanced read on things? And I really think you should stop writing about films. All you do is complain about how terrible everything is. Either it's too arty/complex or it's too low brow, but the actual territory of films you enjoy (ie. the films of Michael Mann or Paul Greengrass and anything else that pats you in the back for your political beliefs) is so narrow, there's really no reason for you to be writing about current cinema.

comment #10

nickc says ...

this saddens me: "...I'm getting the idea that it'll be a push to make $20 million this weekend. I hope I'm wrong, but the phrases I'm hearing are 'soft landing' and 'pissing upstream.'"

comment #11

Noel Murray says ...

JW, I hope you realize that even here in the red states -- I live in Arkansas -- around 40% ofor more of the voters went for Kerry in the last election, and Gore in the election before that. Like Barack Obama says, the country isn't as divided as the media likes to make it. Don't judge us here in flyover country so harshly.

Anyway, I saw TALLADEGA NIGHTS last week and it could be read as a subtle critique of GWB's "America the winner" political philosophy. But that thread isn't as strong as it could be. Instead, it's more of the slobby riffing and soft storytelling that's marked this recent run of Ferrell/Stiller/Vaughn/Wilson comedies. There at least three laugh-out-loud set pieces though -- one involving Ferrell saying grace, one where he stabs himself, and a short monologue from John C. Reilly about posing in PLAYGIRL. And overall, Reilly steals the movie. (Sascha Baron Cohen is more or less useless, which bodes ill for BORAT.)

comment #12

Jeffrey Wells says ...

To all the knee-jerkers taking offense: I wasn't judging red-state residents. I was judging NASCAR culture and the careless mass-usage of fossil fuels for the sake of passing adrenalized amusement. When did these two things become synonymous? Who said or even suggested they were? Not me.

comment #13

Wells is Swell says ...

Seriously, how can you be a mainstream film critic if you judge every movie by its political content even where none exists? Why don't you get a job at The Nation or DailyKos? Most people don't determine what comedies they will/will not see based on how red or blue it may lean.

comment #14

Wells is Swell says ...

One more thing:

"I was judging NASCAR culture and the careless mass-usage of fossil fuels for the sake of passing adrenalized amusement. When did these two things become synonymous?"

Do you have any idea how much fossil fuel is expended & wasted in the name of making hollywood movies whose end purpose is often just "adrenalized amusement"?

comment #15

samizdat says ...

I wouldn't be caught dead at a Will Ferrell pic, but before you get too frothy about "the careless mass-usage of fossil fuels for the sake of passing adrenalized amusement" perhaps you should consider the enviornmental impact of your average Hollywood production. The jets, the trucks, the generators, the honey wagons... Is the amount of energy used on a 3 month shoot less of an enviornmental burden than the fuel burned and put into the air during a stock car race? Not for nothing are these productions often characterized as resembling "small cities". And for what? Often for nothing more than allowing uncultured rubes of all political persuasions who wouldn't know (or care to know) a great filmmaker if he tripped over one to watch some shit blow up for a few hours in between fast food meals. Is the production of a Michael Bay or Wolfgang Peterson film any more enviornmentally defensible than the Daytona 500?

comment #16

Thompson says ...

"I can't wait to see this, just to piss off feminized girl-men like Wells"

So jeff is a racist, anti-semitic, feminized girl-man? He must have pissed you off something awful today.

comment #17

CDS says ...

No, Jeff is a lefty elitist snob...but he's still a good guy.
Kinda like that crazy but loveable cousin at thanksgiving who believes that the government is involved in all these conspiracies etc.

You just have to let him,same goes for Jeff, have his incredibly naive and illogical rants and then the turkey and booze kicks in and he'll mellow out.

Jeff just don't get your hopes up...Dems won't win back the House or Senate and HC will lose by over 10% in 2008.
But hey...you'll still be able to rant away.

comment #18

Daniel Zelter says ...

The Dems will win '06 and '08 for the same reason the Republicans won in '94: an unpopular war. Of course, back then, it was Somalia, and now it's Iraq.

comment #19

Jacob W. says ...

Can we please not bring up politics when talking about a film that has (let's face it) nothing to do with the political field? It's strictly for laughs, so there's no need to get worked up about this.

And the reason the film tracks so well is because it appeals to a huge range of people: the frat guys who love Ferrell, the left-leaners who pick up on the satire behind it, the kids who like an idiot running around screaming, and the Nascar people who don't give a damn and just want to see their "sport" glorified.

Bottom line... the movie looks like shit. Maybe it will be fun, but the trailer is fucking terrible and shows just why people got sick of Will Ferrell in the first place. The film has wide enough appeal to be a success, and maybe it will be hilarious, but I sat silent in the theater watching that one.

p.s. I will say, though, that naming his children "Walker" and "Texas Ranger" does bring a smile. Not as big a smile as Conan's Texas Ranger Lever, though, that's for sure.

comment #20

CDS says ...

Sorry Daniel...but keep dreaming.
The Dem Party is to inept to pick up the House or the Senate...even if they weren't completly clueless it would still be tough to gain a majority in either.

And as for 08 if you actually think HC can win..your worse then the nutjobs that convinced themselves that John Kerry was president material. lol

Only hope is to nominate a a canidate like Edwards, Clark,Biden, or Warner.
But the Dems being the Dems..I'm a former...now Ind. ,will do what they always do and vote like sheep...HC will run away with the nomination and get destroyed in the election.

comment #21

Rich S. says ...

I have to admit, even for Jeff the venom in this piece is unusual. Sadly, he's becoming as predictable as Ebert. If it fits in with his political views, he likes it. If it doesn't (and he can somehow tie it in to An Inconvenient Truth), he shreds it. Worse, he chalks it all up to the ignorance of the movie-going public.

I suspect Jeff's a little cranky these days, just like Michael Moore was in December '04. Despite his best efforts, Superman Returns more-or-less tanked and POTC: DMC is a monster runaway hit. It's tough when your primary goal is to sway public opinion and no one listens to you.

Jeff and I have had these arguments on-and-off for years. I still enjoy his work, but the vituperative tone of this piece really saddens me.

comment #22

Michael says ...

Wells, all of the fuel that NASCAR uses in an entire season is a drop in the bucket compared to upper level Hollywood stars and execs that travel by private jet.

Normally I don't mind hypocrisy all that much (everyone is at least a little bit guilty of it) but this is off the charts. A round trip flight on one of those babies consumes more fuel that a Hummer does for an entire year.

Next time an A-list star or big shot movie exec boards a cross country flight ahead of me (first class and all, and that's cool), I'll start listening to how much NASCAR wastes. Otherwise, you're in the wrong town to be bitching about wasting gas.

comment #23

NYCBusybody says ...

"Red-state shitkickers"

Contrary to what Jeffrey says, he WAS making uneducated, uncultured blanket statements about half of the population of the country. Fine for ideologues and bloggers, but I used to hold him to higher intellectual standards.

comment #24

NYCBusybody says ...

"Wells, all of the fuel that NASCAR uses in an entire season is a drop in the bucket compared to upper level Hollywood stars and execs that travel by private jet. "

Exactly. Which is why people like Wells will never realize how global warming has become a political agenda. If it's such a danger, why do they only cry out at Nascar, but at Al Gore, who flies everywhere? To movie stars, who fly everywhere? Only people who you don't like have to make sacrifices to fix this?

comment #25

Christopher Lee says ...

After kicking around in thankless roles in Lorne Michael's produced skit-movies, Ferrell surprised me with his great turn in OLD SCHOOL. He then held ELF together and went way out into the blue with ANCHORMAN (while i wish Ferrell & McKay had made a more shaded film about a down & out 70's anchor, instead of a improvised-gag film, you can't deny that the whole cast committed like hell to the simple but surreal humor). Last year he ran aground with BEWITCHED and KICKING & SCREAMING looked like a true step backward.

But TALLEGEDA NIGHTS looks promising to me. McKay's years as head writer for SNL was the last truly good era of SNL, and I do think that FERRELL was the best SNL performer ever. That's right, he made every sketch better, and just dominated that show from 1996-2003. I'm not saying he's the most talented, or will have the best film career, but I think he was the most suited to the format and got the most out of it.

SNL made Bill Murray a star, and he's had the best film career, but I've never felt that sketch comedy was the best venue for his talents. Belushi was widely considered to be his best on the stage. Ackroyd, Hartman, Murphy, & Meyers also probably peaked on the show, but Ferrell was the ultimate cast member. Beyond subjective comedy preferences, he was the most adept at wringing laughs as both straight man and wild man.

comment #26

Anonymous says ...

Can someone Please tell me what is so appealing/funny about Will Ferrell? On second thought, forget it because I won't believe you anyway. He wasn't funny on SNL and he hasn't improved. He's actually starting to make Adam Sandler comedy look good to me and that's scary.

comment #27

ULE says ...

I kinda liked the whole "comfort zone" observation..