As I Lay Dying

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As I Lay Dying

Usually if I go to a comedy and don't laugh, I'll wind up writing it's no good or that I hate it, or both. Well, a different thing happened with Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Columbia, 8.4). I didn't laugh much at all -- two or three titters, a couple of chuckles -- but it's not a bad film. I respected it. It's quite smart, very hip and a piece of searing social criticism.

I just didn't laugh. Well, barely. A critic sitting next next to me was shrieking -- you should have heard the sounds he was making -- and I sat there like one of those statues on Easter Island.

Wil Ferrell, Sascha Baron Cohen in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

I've seen Little Miss Sunshine three times and felt light and tickled each time, but that's a film about real people. I recognized every character from my own life, and it kept reminding me of how folks actually are and how pathetic and yet hilarious it can all seem. Talladega Nights is all about stereotypes. There's not a real person in the whole thing. That's not a bad strategy on Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay's part -- it's just the way they decided to go.

Except their humor is impersonal. It isn't about human foibles and quirks and peculiarities. Every last character in Talladega Nights is an archetype or cliche. It never gets "real" or down to earth. (Same deal with their last film, Anchorman.) Nobody exudes any kind of quiet, settled-down ordinary-ness. Again, this isn't a problem. McKay and Ferrell know what they're doing. And they decided to do a Southern social-critique thing and write all the characters as eccentric twits or douchebags or styrofoam heads. A lot of people are going to find this quite funny...whatever.

Joke after joke, scene after scene, Talladega show us what total fools white-trash Southern hee-haws are. It says they've got no real values and they care only about conspicuous consumption, and that all they like to do is tear around in muscle cars, buy new stuff, serve their kids junk food and go apeshit at NASCAR races. And it doesn't let up.

The irony, of course, is that Tallageda is expected to play much stronger with red- staters than anyone else. The people it shits on the heaviest are going to be its biggest fans.

It actually goes a little too hard on the folks down there. Talladega is really mean. Mort Sahl said the cruelest jokes are the funniest, but there's a limit. I wanted to find a Southerner and gived him/her a hug after seeing it.

I love all kinds of things about the South. Southern life doesn't have to be about vulgarity or voting for Dubya or hating the environment. But when it comes to driving fast cars I'm more of a Last American Hero type than a Dukes of Hazzard guy. And when it comes to comedies I prefer everyday average realism as a starting ground.

I haven't really laughed at anything Will Ferrell's done since he did his George Bush impressons. He makes me smirk at times. Maybe if I went back to smoking dope I'd find him funny, but I'll never get high again so that's that

I loved Sacha Baron Cohen as Farrell's arch-nemesis, a gay French race-car driver named Jean Girard. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I did laugh at Talladega when Cohen was on-screen and cranking. I can't make myself feel much enthusi- asm about anyone or anything else in the film. While I was intellectually apprecia- ting what Ferrell and McKay were up to, this movie was also making me feel para- lyzed. At times I felt like I was hibernating. I felt like a bear. At times I was making hibernating-bear snoring sounds.

I was roused out of my slumber when Ferrell stabbed his left leg to prove to his friends he's actually paralyzed, even though it's psychosomatic. And I chuckled at an insert shot of a French-language cover of "L'Etranger" by Albert Camus. And I half-snorted at a fake Eleanor Roosevelt quote in the beginning.

But I spent a lot of time dreaming about things I'd like to do and places I'd like to see before I sleep. This movie isn't giving me anything, I was muttering to myself. It's not bad and I respect Ferrell and McKay, but it's eating up two hours of my life.

I left about five minutes before it ended (it didn't matter) and as I was walking up the aisle I saw a woman sitting in the back row, and talk about a morose expres- sion. This woman wasn't thinking about places she'd like to visit -- she was think- ing about whether she felt better about a bottle of Seconals or a sharp razor blade in a warm tub. Every time I think about Talladega Nights that woman's face is going to come back to me.

I really do love the South in a lot of ways. I love Savannah, Georgia, and those fine old rural plantations with their mossy tall trees. My grandfather came from a Kentucky horse farm, and something about that probably softened my feelings about rural Southern life. I've always felt a kind of love for Lyndon Johnson, deluded and self-destructive as he was, in part because he reminds me of my grandfather. I'll always love young Elvis (the '54 to '57 version). I loved Tommy Lee Jones' char- acter in Coal Miner's Daughter. And I've always love those fatty Southern foods and the way those earth aromas fill up if you stand in some rural area late at night and just breathe them in.

I guess I'm acknowledging in my usual half-assed way that Talladega Nights really is a Southern culture trip, and all the brassy vulgarity it shows made me think about the aspects of Southern life that are getting lost and smothered by corporate forces...the same thing that's happening everywhere to American small-town life.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 3, 2006 at 4:16 PM

comment #1

NYCBusybody says ...

Wow. I'm pleasantly surprised by Jeffrey' review.

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 3, 2006 6:41 PM

comment #2

Anonymous says ...

And I think the reason southern "hee-haw" types will still go to this is the same reason a lot of African-Americans, or gay, or any type of stereotyped cultures in the past went to insulting, stereotypical Hollywood depictions of themselves; at least they're seeing themselves on the screen, even if it's horribly insulting. At least they're not being ignored. And "rednecks" are the last group left that Hollywood can still do this kind of thing to, and people say "oh, what's the harm, most of them are like that anyway".

Posted by Anonymous at August 3, 2006 6:46 PM

comment #3

NYCBusybody says ...

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 3, 2006 6:46 PM

comment #4

Sticky Merkel says ...

"It says they've got no real values and they care only about conspicuous consumption, and that all they like to do is tear around in muscle cars, buy new stuff, serve their kids junk food and go apeshit at NASCAR races."
Yeah, that's those Red States for 'ya. You'd never be able to apply that sentence to the sophisticates living in Santa Monica or Manhattan, would you?
(actually, you can.... simply replace "muscle cars" with "Hummers" and "NASCAR races" with "gala premieres")

Posted by Sticky Merkel at August 3, 2006 7:02 PM

comment #5

Dave at Garfield Ridge says ...

"Joke after joke, scene after scene, Talladega show us what total fools white-trash Southern hee-haws are. It says they've got no real values and they care only about conspicuous consumption, and that all they like to do is tear around in muscle cars, buy new stuff, serve their kids junk food and go apeshit at NASCAR races. And it doesn't let up."

Jeffrey, that pretty much describes the parochial Blue State perspective you've evinced on this website for, ohhh, three years now. And that STILL didn't make you laugh?

Who is this? What have you done with Jeffrey Wells??

Posted by Dave at Garfield Ridge at August 3, 2006 7:06 PM

comment #6

NYCBusybody says ...

"and the way those earth aromas fill up if you stand in some rural area late at night and just breathe them in"

I don't know - as annoyingly smug as Wells is sometimes about his whole blue-state thing, for someone raised in rural areas like me, that quote is amazing. That sums up a spiritual feeling you can get with the land in a rural area in a poetic way. And I'm surprised he gave such a balanced and fair view of the good things about the south and its culture rather than just another easy, cheap excoriation of their flaws, like Talladega unfortunately seems to be.

Wells is still a smug Yankee, but hell, he's got my year-end $25 donation to his site back for this one.

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 3, 2006 7:08 PM

comment #7

NYCBusybody says ...

Dave at Garfield Ridge: "Who is this? What have you done with Jeffrey Wells??"

I know, right? What's in the air today? Pat Robertson comes out in support of action against global warming, and Jeffrey gives a fair-minded, almost touching view of Southern culture.

What the hell kind of topsy-turvy day is this?

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 3, 2006 7:17 PM

comment #8

Anonymous says ...

Dave at Garfield Ridge: "Who is this? What have you done with Jeffrey Wells??"

I know, right? What's in the air today? Pat Robertson comes out in support of action against global warming, and Jeffrey gives a fair-minded, almost touching view of Southern culture.

What the hell kind of topsy-turvy day is this?
^
And Mel Gibson is dating Sarah Silverman!!! Seriously, WTF??

Posted by Anonymous at August 3, 2006 7:25 PM

comment #9

BL says ...

Well - going solely on the comments here and not having seen the film...

Assuming Farrell's intent is for his film to be embraced by southerners, unless he REALLY blows it and seems like he's critiquing the South as a hostile outsider/yankee instead of celebrating it as an admirerer, the NASCAR set will probably love it because these people not only REVEL in their ignorance but they are proud of it. I think the term for it is called Anti-Intellectualism.

Not that anti-intellectualism doesn't exist in some form in almost all American society - but it is definately more pronounced in some realms than others.

What WOULD be something is if Farrell made this film as a platform for NORTHERNERS to ridicule southerners. Popular culture so commonly kow-tows to southern sensibilities - it would frankly be shocking for someone to buck that trend.

Posted by BL at August 3, 2006 8:39 PM

comment #10

Chris says ...

Gary Cole looks GREAT in the trailer for this. ... This man MUST get some kind of honorary Oscar for the wide range of amazing work he's done in his career. He's damn near a national treasure.

Posted by Chris at August 3, 2006 9:44 PM

comment #11

Jesse says ...

Anti-intellectualism is just as alive and well in the blue states as it is in the red, only we don't have funny accents that are easy to lampoon.

Posted by Jesse at August 3, 2006 9:48 PM

comment #12

gh says ...

Mr. Wells,

Not counting Wedding Crashers, what did you think was the funniest film of the last 10-12 years?

Posted by gh at August 3, 2006 10:08 PM

comment #13

gh says ...

or LMS, since you mention it in this review. Just curious.

Posted by gh at August 3, 2006 10:09 PM

comment #14

Nicol D says ...

Is this a smart film or a film that just plays to the lowest common denominator stereotype of how the blue states perceive the red states?

Will Ferrel does not exactly seem like the 'perceptive type'.

Flake seems to be more in line with his style of humour.

Posted by Nicol D at August 3, 2006 10:43 PM

comment #15

Davec says ...

Ferrell and McKay's humor is just as smart as any you will find in Little Miss Sunshine. Anchorman is one of the funniest and smartest comedies I've ever seen. There is an art to writing comedy like these guys and very few are at their level. Yeah, the characters are stereotypes and the jokes are random and the plot is weak, but when you're laughing that much, who needs an airtight plot? If the bits and pieces I've seen of Talladega are any indication, this will be a worthy follow up to Anchorman.

Posted by Davec at August 3, 2006 11:16 PM

comment #16

Jim says ...

I wanted to hate this thing, but I just watched the trailer and laughed my ass off.

Posted by Jim at August 3, 2006 11:25 PM

comment #17

.. says ...

...and sayonara to the Lindsay Lohan item! good move, Jeff

Posted by .. at August 3, 2006 11:40 PM

comment #18

Mike McNeely says ...

Using the phrase "Red State" is beginning to feel quite stereotypical. I'm somewhat sick of the term these days.

Posted by Mike McNeely at August 4, 2006 2:30 AM

comment #19

JK says ...

"...Maybe if I went back to smoking dope I'd find him funny"

Maybe that's why I find him so funny?

Posted by JK at August 4, 2006 5:07 AM

comment #20

NYCBusybody says ...

"Anti-intellectualism is just as alive and well in the blue states as it is in the red, only we don't have funny accents that are easy to lampoon."

No funny Northern accents? Surely you jest.

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 4, 2006 5:21 AM

comment #21

NYCBusybody says ...

BL was also the person who claimed to have sat through Anchorman "socio-analyzing" the audience that was laughing.

Methinks he once had a pseudo-intellectual girlfriend who cheated on him with a Southern frat boy and destroyed his poor little self-esteem. Let go of the hate, m'boy, you'll feel so much better.

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 4, 2006 6:16 AM

comment #22

Colin says ...

Hmm...Rotten Tomatoes classified the Village Voice review as "rotten," but it seemed pretty fresh to me:

http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0631,wilonsky,74044,20.html

Posted by Colin at August 4, 2006 6:33 AM

comment #23

Dr. Smith says ...

"I left about five minutes before it ended (it didn't matter) and as I was walking up the aisle I saw a woman sitting in the back row, and talk about a morose expres- sion. This woman wasn't thinking about places she'd like to visit -- she was think- ing about whether she felt better about a bottle of Seconals or a sharp razor blade in a warm tub. Every time I think about Talladega Nights that woman's face is going to come back to me."

Somebody please take away Jeff's belt and shoelaces. God-DAMN!

"Talladega Nights is all about stereotypes. There's not a real person in the whole thing. That's not a bad strategy on Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay's part -- it's just the way they decided to go."

Jeff, holy shit man....it's just a wacky comedy. Just be thankful that Farrel and McKay are smart enough to NOT try and blend reality into the movie in the last fifteen minutes the way Adam Sandler always does. For some reason he thinks you can feed an audience a wacky comedy for 90 minutes, then flip a switch and turn it into a romantic comedy that we "care" about.

I know you prefer comedies with reality as a home base, but you make it sound as if this kind of movie has never been done before. I don't need to tell you that "Talladega Nights" harkens back to Animal House & Airplane & Some Like It Hot & the Marx Brothers & the Hope-Crosby Road movies, which revel in an artificial world and toss joke after joke in your face. They live and breathe on stereotypes and allow the rambunctious hero to get away with most anything. It's a circus-type world where funny voices and fake mustaches reign supreme. The only thing the filmmaker asks of you is that YOU GIVE YOURSELF OVER. It's called FUN, Jeff. Let loose and have some, there's plenty for everyone.

Posted by Dr. Smith at August 4, 2006 6:44 AM

comment #24

Jeff says ...

Wells, you are a fucking moron. Only a self-centered, effete jackass like yourself would presume that Talladega presents even a somewhat accurate picture of Southerners. Of course, your blanket statement re: a subject you know nothing about (other than seeing a movie) shouldn't be surprising after you became an instant expert on anthropogenic global warming after a viewing of An Inconvenient Truth.

Some advice: try experiencing the world outside of LA, NY, Paris, and film festivals. Realize that the rubes in the flyover states aren't a mass of morons--evidenced at least somewhat by the fact that most of them don't have to beg for money on a website while they supposedly have a job.

Posted by Jeff at August 4, 2006 6:45 AM

comment #25

NYCBusybody says ...

"Realize that the rubes in the flyover states aren't a mass of morons"

Wow, "other" Jeff, did we read the same review? I actually have a great deal more respect for Wells after this review because he DIDN'T stereotype Southerners or make blanket statements about "Red-Staters" as he has in the past. Instead of reducing flyover states to just that, flyover states, he shared fond feelings he does have for Southern culture.

If you equate being Southern, or even being conservative, with denying global warming, it seems to me you're the fucking moron.

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 4, 2006 6:58 AM

comment #26

Nick says ...

At least half of the funniest stuff in the trailers and TV commercials for "Talladega" isn't even in the movie. The wheelchair basketball footage, potentially funny, is trimmed down, and I just saw a commercial where he asks if he's alive or if it's a sex dream that is nowhere to be found. Perhaps they have a whole other film waiting like "Wake Up, Ron Burgundy." Here's hoping that's a little more consistent and a little less achingly padded out to nearly two hours than "Talladega Nights" is. (Yes, I've seen it.)

Posted by Nick at August 4, 2006 7:03 AM

comment #27

mitch says ...

Vulgarity: Vagina Monologues

On a side note: For my arousal quotient, nothing can compete with the soft, sweet whisper from a young southern belle.

Posted by mitch at August 4, 2006 7:03 AM

comment #28

mitch says ...

On another side note: I fucking hated Miami Vice. Blech...

Posted by mitch at August 4, 2006 7:11 AM

comment #29

jesse says ...

Jeffrey, I admire the candor and articulate nature of this review, as it's not blatantly dismissive (and I usually find it pretty difficult not to dismiss a comedy that doesn't make me laugh unless it has something else major going for it). However, it does sort of sound like your main criticism of the movie is that it's a broad comedy. I'm eager to see "Little Miss Sunshine," but I doubt I'll be disappointed if "Talladega Nights" isn't playing on that field (and I very much doubt I'll laugh more at "Sunshine" just because it's "smarter"... though I guess it could be happen). Isn't that kind of like criticizing "Airplane!" by saying it doesn't have enough in common with "Annie Hall"? There is room in my heart for both.

Also, I can't speak for "Talladega" cause I haven't seen it yet, but I'll thrown down a little with one of your few well-liked broad comedies: "Anchorman" is a hell of a lot funnier than "Wedding Crashers" (which I liked but is also chock full of awful cheesy-studio-comedy tropes -- a misfit gay guy! Isn't it funny that he's gay?? Oh, and did an old person just say something vulgar? How droll!).

Posted by jesse at August 4, 2006 7:44 AM

comment #30

Michael says ...

So, Ricky Bobby is full of fake characters and Little Miss Sunshine has real people? Who is the real person in LMS? The kid who (voluntarily) hasn't spoken for a year?

The characters in LMS strike me as bullshit every bit as much as the Ricky Bobby crew. The fact that LMS is darker, or whatever, is clouding your view JW. Wake up.

Posted by Michael at August 4, 2006 8:04 AM

comment #31

J says ...

"Hmm...Rotten Tomatoes classified the Village Voice review as "rotten," but it seemed pretty fresh to me:"

Agree. And so does metacritic.com, which scored that review a 70 (out of 100).

Posted by J at August 4, 2006 8:11 AM

comment #32

rk says ...

When is Ferrell's 15 minutes up ?

Posted by rk at August 4, 2006 8:25 AM

comment #33

Dixon Steele says ...

It's not a bad review, but I still maintain that Jeff has a real blind spot for comedy.

You can tell, it's just not his thing. Like a lot of critics, he just can't take them seriously, so to speak.

Has he ever really gushed over one? Maybe, but he'd rather save the raves for the Michael Manns of the world.

Nothing terribly wrong with that, I guess. But an accurate observation I believe.

Posted by Dixon Steele at August 4, 2006 8:27 AM

comment #34

NYCBusybody says ...

I don't know. I saw Little Miss Sunshine, and while I found it a solid, funny film, I've never really known anyone like the characters portrayed (maybe to a certain extent, with some of the quirks, but nowhere near to that broad and "movie-ish" a degree).

LMS struck me as painting its characters with pretty broad "see how quirky?" strokes.

In fact, part of what I like so much about "Rushmore" is that the characters were quirky, yes, and not entirely realistic, but that it was purposefully part of the slightly off-kilter world created by the film. It wasn't SUPPOSED to represent reality, whereas big LMS fans (well, Jeffrey, at least) seem to think LMS DOES represent reality, and I don't think it entirely does. To think the LMS characters are real people you know in your life, you'd have to know some pretty broad, overly-self-invented people.

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 4, 2006 8:35 AM

comment #35

Mike Gebert says ...

Jeff writes the best passive-aggressive slams in the biz.

Four words for why this will be a big hit: Larry the Cable Guy. I know he's not in it, but he's proof that there's a big market in all those brand spanking new subdivisions around Atlanta or Memphis or Houston populated by sales and marketing execs and their realtor wives for redneck humor. The more life in Atlanta is indistinguishable from life in Connecticut or Seattle, the more ersatz country culture sells. (Two more words: Garth Brooks.)

Posted by Mike Gebert at August 4, 2006 9:16 AM

comment #36

Mathew says ...

"To think the LMS characters are real people you know in your life, you'd have to know some pretty broad, overly-self-invented people."

I agree having not seen the film but the trailer. The little girl for example: she's cute you can tell (she's an actress after all) but they dress her up like she's an idiot. Where else do you find Tootsie-sized glasses outside of a Goodwill these days? Basically she's a comedic invention of the filmmakers and not a "real person".

Posted by Mathew at August 4, 2006 9:17 AM

comment #37

NYCBusybody says ...

Mike Gebert: "The more life in Atlanta is indistinguishable from life in Connecticut or Seattle, the more ersatz country culture sells. (Two more words: Garth Brooks.)"

I tend to agree Mike, and I think Jeffrey hit on the same concept when he spoke of "aspects of Southern life that are getting lost and smothered by corporate forces". Hell, Garth Brooks attracted 750,000 people in NYC for his Central Park concert - it's part and parcel of the same phenomenon of watered-down culture everywhere.

And I think an important socio-cultural point needs to be made that the reason some or many (not entirely sure) poor rural folk WILL go see Talladega, or WILL laugh at Larry the Cable Guy, is that they don't have any other representations of their lives to see, so they might as well laugh along with everyone else. It's sad but true.

Yes, there are some rural poor "rednecks" who are just idiots/wife-beaters/jerks/dumbasses, but so are some Mexicans. And some Jews. And some Californians.

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 4, 2006 9:33 AM

comment #38

NYCBusybody says ...

I find this interesting - this was written by Jerry Bonkowski, the NASCAR writer for Yahoo! Sports, about Talladega:

"Fears that the movie might be stereotypical about NASCAR's Southern roots or redneck, confederate flag-waving fans just to get cheap laughs weren't justified. About the only stereotypical elements were a couple of cheap homosexual cracks about the movie's villain, gay French Formula One driver Jean Girard, played by Sacha Baron Cohen. "

I wonder if Wells perhaps saw some digs that were meant in good-natured fun as much meaner than they were intended to be simply because HE would have meant them more derogatorily than the filmmakers?

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 4, 2006 10:35 AM

comment #39

Anonymous says ...

I love Anchorman. And though I agree it seems from the trailers the characters in Talladega Nights are all archetypes and cliches, and Anchorman had that too, I disagree with Jeff that Anchorman lacked real or down to earth moments for its characters. It definitely had that, via cute dog, true love, and our sympathy for the female reporter's sincere aspirations to be an anchorwoman. The Talladega Nights trailers are leaving me cold, and uninterested. It just seems like a sketch and not a movie.

Posted by Anonymous at August 4, 2006 11:08 AM

comment #40

Joe M. says ...

Just caught the movie during my lunch hour (it's a realllllly slow day at the office here), and I agree with Jeffrey: comedy-wise, it's not a bad movie, it's laced with lots of chuckles, but I just didn't find it uproarious, either. But, the film is ultimately bolstered by what turns out to be a pretty good story, one that's-- dare I say it?-- even a bit sophisticated. So, you'll go for the laughs, but just might enjoy it more for the interesting look at how loyalty, betrayal, and forgiveness work in the context of a longtime friendship. And John C. Reilly thought he was taking a break from the serious stuff when he signed on for this!

Posted by Joe M. at August 4, 2006 11:08 AM

comment #41

Ju-osh says ...

Interesting review. I tend to prefer one of these sorta-liked-it-sorta-didn't reviews much more than an out and out loved-it or hated-it (they tend to be more realistic, for startes). I felt that you highly overrated both Miami Vice and Wedding Crashers, and I can't help but wonder if my disappointment with both wasn't increased just a bit by the expectations you instilled in me with your repeated raves.
Keep up the good work and, if you have the time, please take gh's advice and list for us your top comedies of the past ten years.

Posted by Ju-osh at August 4, 2006 2:22 PM

comment #42

Anonymous says ...

Caught in during your lunch hour, JOe? I'd imagine that's more like 2 hours 15 minutes after previews and commute to and from the theater? Day-amn, where do you work, dude?

Posted by Anonymous at August 4, 2006 6:08 PM

comment #43

Anonymous says ...

"the NASCAR set will probably love it because these people not only REVEL in their ignorance but they are proud of it. I think the term for it is called Anti-Intellectualism."

Dude: NASCAR is a sport. Enjoying cars going fast doesn't equate to "reveling in ignorance." Are Lakers fans anti-intellectuals? Anybody who ever spent an afternoon at the track is a book burner?

Posted by Anonymous at August 4, 2006 11:05 PM

comment #44

CinemaPsycho says ...

Well, I live in the North and I know plenty of "rednecks". I grew up in a town full of them (you can imagine what my childhood was like). This mentality is not just a Southern thing anymore, and hasn't been for years. With the popularity of NASCAR, it's only getting worse. It's not just poor people who have embraced NASCAR, it's the middle class as well. I think they feel that it's the one sport that hasn't been corrupted yet by corporate interests, so they feel safe in calling it "theirs". Never mind the advertising logos on the cars, right? Whatever.

It's not just the South anymore - rednecks have taken over the entire country. At least everywhere between the coasts. I personally don't see any value in watching cars drive around in a circle for 5 hours straight, but that's just me. If that's what gets your rocks off, go for it. Then I won't have to sit next to those people at the cineplex while I'm being entertained.

I hate to stereotype people - I really do - but most of the people I knew growing up were just plain ignorant, obnoxious and as dumb as a box of rocks. But I also know some NASCAR fans who are among the nicest and most generous people I've ever met. So I don't think it's the sport itself that turns people into assholes, any more than listening to heavy metal music turns people into Satan-worshippers. If your parents are assholes, you probably will be one too. That's just how it works.

By the way, is it just me, or is there a lot of George W. Bush in "Ricky Bobby"? Am I the only one who sees it?

Posted by CinemaPsycho at August 4, 2006 11:46 PM

comment #45

NYCBusybody says ...

"I hate to stereotype people - I really do - but most of the people I knew growing up were just plain ignorant, obnoxious and as dumb as a box of rocks."

Amen to that. Thing is, though, most PEOPLE are plain ignorant and obnoxious. Jews, Gentiles, East-Coasters, Midwesterners, blacks, whites, Asians, Arabs, Indians, Christians...and so on.

Do people really think, when they go to some hipper-than-thou art theater in a metro city, that those people are generally SMARTER than others, or just pretend to be? Come on.

Posted by NYCBusybody at August 5, 2006 8:29 AM

comment #46

Joe M. says ...

Ah, I work at a job where an occasional long lunch is permissable. Of course, it's assumed that one is using that long lunch to actually, uh, have lunch (a bodily necessity), not to see a movie. In other words, my bosses would likely easier forgive a long lunch to eat more than a long lunch to laugh at Will Ferrell. So, I'll likely think twice before seeing a movie during my lunch "hour" again. But it was fun to be naughty that one time.

Posted by Joe M. at August 7, 2006 12:07 PM

comment #47

penchenk87 says ...

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comment #48