Ferrell fills 'Talladega Nights' with belly laughs

Ever since the delightful "Elf," Will Ferrell's film career has been on a serious down cycle. "Bewitched." "Kicking & Screaming." "The Producers." "Winter Passing." "Melinda and Melinda." Even his uncredited appearances stunk. ("Starsky & Hutch," anyone?)

"Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" puts him back on the comedy fast track with style and a load of belly laughs.

Sony Pictures Releasing 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby' B The verdict: Offers an embarrasment of riches, starting with its top-notch cast. Director: Adam McKay Starring: Will Ferrell, Sacha Baron Cohen, John C. Reilly, Michael Clarke Duncan, Amy Adams Run time: 105 minutes Release date: August 4, 2006 Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language, drug references and brief comic violence. See showtimes On the backlot •  Will Ferrell says he honed his comedy in elementary school. •  Product placements linger long after the credits roll. On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Reunited with Adam McKay, the director of the likable "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," the star has also reconnected with the bumptious, lunkheaded sweetness that made "Elf" a hit, with an added sprinkling of Burgundy's outsized ego.

As NASCAR legend Ricky Bobby, Ferrell turns a character who could've been as paper-thin as anything in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch into a memorable comic creation. Whether he's stopping mid-grace at the dinner table to explain why he prefers to pray to the Christmas Jesus, the "baby Jesus," or running around the race track in a post-crash dither in his tighty-whiteys, Ferrell scores one big laugh after another.

We learn in the first scene that Ricky was born with a need for speed. Possibly it's the result of his popping out of his mama, Lucy Bobby (Jane Lynch), in the back of a speeding Chevelle before his daddy, Reese Bobby (Gary Cole), could get to the hospital. That he was conceived during a quickie in the ladies restroom at a Rustlers Steakhouse ("Your Daddy picked me!" his mom glows) might have had something to do with it, too.

At any rate, starting out in a pit crew, Ricky becomes a racing star when the diffident driver (a cameo by McKay) stops for a chicken sandwich.

Mid-race.

Ricky jumps into the driver's seat and drives into NASCAR history. Before long, he's the winningest racer on the circuit. He's got a stadium full of fans. A loyal best pal — fellow driver Cal Naughton Jr. (John C. Reilly), who doesn't mind coming in second as long as Ricky claims first. Product endorsements galore. A gloriously tacky McMansion. A trophy bride (when she first flashes him her breasts at a race, he mutters the soulful prayer, "Please be 18."). And two rambunctious boys named Walker and Texas Ranger. If they'd been girls, he solemnly swears to show he's no sexist, they would've been Dr. Quinn and Medicine Woman.

All this is put in jeopardy when an intruder from Formula One, an espresso-sipping Frenchman named Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen, aka hipster Ali G) challenges Ricky on his own turf. Or would that be track?

Girard is everything a red-blooded American like Ricky despises. Not only is he French, but when he's behind the wheel, he listens to opera, munches on croissants and reads Camus. And he's gay (Andy Richter plays his faithful chubby hubby, Gregory).

Let's be clear: "Talladega Nights" is hardly Noel Coward or Charlie Kaufman. Nor does it intend to be. Made with NASCAR's full support — several racing legends have cameos, as do Mos Def and Elvis Costello as Girard's houseguests — the movie is as friendly, playful and unassuming as a puppy. The script has great fun with certain NASCAR clichés, but it never condescends to the sport or its fans. Rather, it joyously embraces the whole milieu with infectious high spirits and goofy good humor.

As is true of all really good comedies, the picture establishes its tone early on and rarely wavers. And like the ensemble actors who grace Christopher Guest's films, the cast — add "Junebug's" Amy Adams as a spunky third-act inspiration for Ricky, Leslie Bibb as trashy Mrs. Ricky Bobby and Michael Clarke Duncan as his pit chief — skillfully plays off one another, passing around dialogue and pratfalls as if they were a well-organized sports team.

The interplay between Ferrell and Reilly is especially funny. The two have a male-bonding ritual in which they look deeply, manfully into each other's eyes, do some fancy knuckle-knocking and speak the immortal rallying phrase, "Shake and bake!"

You could say their movie shakes and bakes, too. When the slightly effete, ferrety son (Greg Germann) of Ricky's sponsor (Pat Hingle) dismisses his dad's cash cow as just a "stupid cowboy," his father wisely replies, "I wish you had a little more stupid cowboy in you."

"Talladega Nights" is for the stupid cowboy in all of us.