Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby 2006

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: 'What does diablo mean?' 'It's like Spanish for fighting chicken.' If you cracked so much as a shell of a smile reading that, then run, don't walk, to see Talladega Nights, where you will get an entire year's worth of equally irresistible nonsense. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Now and then, the movie allows you to relax into its brand of stupid-smart comedy. The rest of the time your shoulders scrunch up and ask the eternal question: Why is this routine not quite working? Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The laugh quotient lags well behind Ferrell and McKay's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, but unlike many other purveyors of hip comedy, they're consistently clever without being contemptuous of their audience. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Talladega Nights may be brash, unbridled, even unhinged, but its cornpone humor is rich in parody, and its craftsmanship is superb. Read more

Ted Fry, Seattle Times: The hilarious everyman riffs and contagious fun are reason enough to fuel up on such a wonderfully throwaway gag-fest. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: One of the stupidest and one of the funniest movies in Will Ferrell's career. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby puts Will Ferrell back on the comedy fast track with style and a load of belly laughs. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: When the crazy comes, it's pretty good crazy. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Whether the engine on Talladega Nights is humming or sputtering, Ferrell stays gamely behind the wheel. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is the sort of cheerfully asinine comedy that twists your arm until you submit. So, to Will Ferrell -- clown, freak, bully -- I scream, 'Uncle!' Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a bit of a mess, but it is a genial mess, and one that will make you laugh. Which is the whole idea. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Talladega is the first comedy this year to make me laugh so hard I snorted. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Like the sport it spoofs, the movie has its thrilling moments but mostly feels repetitive -- it's constantly moving but never really goes anywhere. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: When [Sascha Baron] Cohen and [Will] Ferrell are eyeing each other, you never saw a loopier pair. They compensate for the film's hit-and-miss shenanigans, which more often miss than hit. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: This mildly crude yet oddly tame tale about a NASCAR hotshot who burns rubber to the top of the pole before having a speedway blowout runs on underinflated tires. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is perfectly stupid chuckleheaded bliss, an achievement of the lowest and highest order. Every week should hold a movie like this. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: This one scores laughs right down to its gloriously gaga climactic smooch. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: NASCAR fans will likely love Talladega Nights, which may be a glowing endorsement or a warning sign, depending on the viewer. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: Talladega Nights is an unapologetic goof fest, light as aluminum and seemingly edited with Scotch tape. But it's smart enough to buy gags in bulk and puts them in the hands of three guys who can improvise until the cars come home. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: At its best, Talladega Nights scales the heights of cinematic Dadaism and affirms that Ferrell and McKay are among the few trying to breathe new life into the atrophied American screen comedy. Read more

Stephen Williams, Newsday: A whole bunch of great racing footage would've ratcheted up Nights a notch or two -- see Cars for inspiration -- but even the track scenes are ... well, pedestrian. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Ferrell reteams with director Adam McKay (Anchorman) for another gleefully trashy comedy. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: Like a 30-car pileup on the high banks at Daytona, you can't take your eyes off this mess, and it is a rambunctious entertainment. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: [Director] McKay has made another wildly uneven, PG-13-that-could-be-R comedy that veers from explosively funny, overlong improvs (a Southern-fried dinner prayer to 'Dear Baby Jesus') to black holes from which no laugh can escape. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: We're left ho-humming our way through one obligatory scene after another and wincing through a sting of failed gags until the next bit comes along that tickles our funny bone. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Essentially a string of gags loosely looped together, a set of absurd situations for the actors to clown their way through, Talladega Nights is an affable entertainment, both a celebration and a satire of lowbrow pleasures. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The picture gets a bit long near the finish. But comedies live and die on the basis of their laugh quotient, and Talladega Nights gets its share. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Talladega Nights is as good as a summer comedy about NASCAR has any right to be, with fine actors tucked into every nook and cranny. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: If you can delight in the delight of others, you just may delight in this. Otherwise, prepare to be awfully jealous, because it's the sort of picture where the actors are having a lot more fun than the audience. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Ferrell and his writing partner Adam McKay (who also directs, as he did Anchorman) are utterly without shame in their eagerness to recycle old ideas. This pair could make a blue box jealous. Read more

Steven Snyder, TIME Magazine: A comedy with horsepower to spare. Read more

Time Out: Broad but not crude, dumb but not witless, clever but still snot-spittingly funny. Stupidly brilliant, in other words. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Though the movie about a moronic NASCAR racer overall is uneven and Ricky Bobby's saga lacks focus, the stupid-comical banter and the lampooning of this particular brand of car racing proves entertaining. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: Simultaneously teasing and loving a subject doesn't make for easy comedy, but writer-star Will Ferrell and director/co-writer Adam McKay pull it off with good-ol'-boy good nature in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: There's no difference between the movie and the end-credit outtakes. Read more

Teresa Wiltz, Washington Post: Talladega Nights doesn't do much more than go for the quick guffaw, and frequently the guffaw comes from stereotypical slights along the redneck vein. Read more