You say a manly swagger and the perpetually perplexed eyes of person who doesn't understand how big the world really is.

Sound like any other boob we know?

How appropriate that SZ should review movies with Will Ferrell and Robin Williams on the same day. Nothing is guaranteed to suck the life out of any cinematic endeavour faster than the presence of these two stupendously untalented wastes of food and air.

Stephanie says: "Even though Ricky Bobby comports himself with a manly swagger, his eyes look perpetually perplexed." Now, who does that remind us of? Hmmm...could it be that Will Ferrell is the anti-Bush? The comical flipside that swaggers and talks nonsense but doesn't send soldiers to their deaths or corrupt the best hope for democracy in the world? Does laughing at WF mitigate the angst of living under the dumbest, most incompetently swaggering leadership in living memory? Let's hope so; there are still two years left to go.

Funny how when xenophobic stereotyping makes Ms. Zacharek laugh, it becomes "a peculiar a wonderful invention;" and when fag jokes make her laugh, it becomes "hard to see the humor as homophobic." Hey, Stephanie, you had a good time at a xenophobic and homophobic flick. Own to it. If you like crap, it makes you someone who likes crap; it doesn't make the crap "a peculiar and wonderful invention". You don't have that kind of power.

Between the trailers and this review I imagine I've heard all the good lines.

Nice piece, but I think it's curious that Stephanie Zacharek didn't make the rather obvious connection between Ferrell's portrayl of Ricky Bobby and his past (hillarious) portayls of Bush - both on SNL and in those great campagin ads. I mean c'mon Salon... Ferrell teed one up for you and you're letting down our side!

...but to describe them as "untalented" is either a poor choice of words or profoundly ignorant. To describe anybody as "a waste of food and air" is simply terrible writing.

"And although the movie contains numerous silly gay jokes, it's hard to see the humor as homophobic."

Funny how homophobic jokes aren't offensive to hets, just like misogynist jokes aren't offensive to men, or racial jokes aren't offensive to whites.

This is what happens when there's no War Room I guess.

Fun crowd in here. Nothing like self-important wet blankets looking down their noses at a Will Ferrell car-racing movie.

Repeat: A Will Ferrell car-racing movie.

Let's calm down on this one thing. Can I still enjoy the old Pink Panther movies? Or "Some Like it Hot?" Please tell me what's okay to laugh at so I'll know if I am a good, enlightened person or not.

And I'll always like Ferrell for those W spots alone. When he calls the horse a "devil horse" and yells for help, I lose it every time.

It wasn't necessary for Zacharek to mention, but can someone explain to me why NASCAR is so behind this movie? WF's new film is getting a huge advertising campaign with none other than high endurance old spice and NASCAR?!

Is NASCAR willing to laugh at itself? I haven't found it's conservative, redneck fan base able to do that in the past, however, I am confident Nascar fans will line up to enjoy and appreciate a film that is "made for them" (or so they think) It might just speak to WF's absurdly broad appeal. Similarly, some conservatives who like Colbert often don't realize they are the butt of many his jokes because he's almost too animated and too locked in character to penetrate their casual acceptance of deliberate satire when it's portrayed as colorful entertainment they can recognize.

Will Farrell has now provided us at least two movies where we can watch shades of GWB walk through a world half blind, completely ass-backwards, with his head up his ass… and get away with it.

News about our president is depressing. Movies with Will acting like our president are fun.

Joel, I've wondered myself why NASCAR put so much of its muscle behind "Talladega Nights" and not, say, "Cars." Why push a movie that plays on so many of the stereotypes NASCAR's trying desperately to outrun? I'm guessing it has something to do with the target market of the film overlapping with a big chunk of NASCAR's fan base, and the target market of many NASCAR sponsors. Still...

But I have to disagree with your implication that if a hardcore NASCAR fan buys a ticket to see this film it's because he or she is too naive to get that he or she is the butt of the joke. Just to refresh: not all NASCAR fans are ultra-conservative Bible-bangers with three teeth, and we're perfectly capable of appreciating good-natured humor, even when it's directed at ourselves.

The nascar folks have an event near here every year, and for the weekend the county IQ average is cut in half. No wonder they'll watch a flick in which they're the butt of the joke. Hee-Haw.

...that people on the left can be just as bigoted as people on the right!

Well, had they shaved off 20 of the first 30 minutes, the film would be much improved. It seems as if the filmmakers were trying to appeal to the NASCAR fans to the point of blowing the chance to really dig at the NASCAR stereotypes. There were some very amusing moments, but overall, the film was a drag. The most interesting aspects of the film dealt with his family - I wish more time was spent there.

I guess the film lacked the cohesiveness of Anchorman - certainly something was lacking. It certainly had its funny moments, though, and Ferrell was very good.

In my mind, Ms. Zacharek wrote this excellent piece fully conscious of the comparison to "The Decider." I imagine every Salon reader is aware of Farrell's hilarious Bush impression on SNL ("Strategery"), if not for his matchless performance in the America Coming Together skit ("Is that a bear or a puma?"). Reading the brilliant line "This is the kind of hubris you could find only in a naif, a creature who's certain of his place in the world simply because he has no idea just how big the world is," how could anyone not perceive the reference.

That line is one of the best I've ever read in an A&E critique. I credit Ms. Zacharek for playing it understated. I credit Farrell, and other kindred satirists like Stephen Colbert, for continuing to spoof jackasses like Dubya.