The Ballad of Ricky Bobby : CRAVE FILM/TV

A comparison of DVD format Versus Blu-ray Disc.
By Dan Ramer,
I can pin down the month when the NASCAR crowd made their assault on pop culture. It was the moment Soundscan was introduced to more accurately count the number of CDs being purchased by American consumers.

In the old days, Billboard and other music publications would rely on the reporting of record stores to determine where an album placed on the sales charts. When Soundscan was introduced in November 1991, it insured that every record scanned at the time of purchase was counted. No more guessing or relying on inaccurate reporting from store owners.

And it was a great surprise when it turned out that this foolproof accounting method determined that country music was outselling all other musical genres. Fast-forward a few years. The television networks start paying greater attention and put more effort into their NASCAR coverage.

Combine all that with the growing influence of Southern, Bible-Belt culture (how many presidents in the last thirty years have come from Southern states?), and you rsquo;ve got yourself a very influential pocket of Americans.

Those Americans, combined with Ferrell aficionados on the left and right coasts, came out to support Talladega Nights rsquo; first weekend in the theaters to the tune of $47 million.

So whatever writer/director Adam McKay and star Will Ferrell really think about NASCAR, they know two things: its fans have money and they rsquo;ll spend it on their preferred sport. In the duo rsquo;s gleefully ridiculous and occasionally very funny comedy Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby, McKay and Ferrell poke fun at NASCAR culture, without insulting or denigrating it.

As our tale begins, Ricky Bobby is born in the back seat of a speeding car, popping out of his mother rsquo;s womb when dad Reese (irascible Gary Cole) slams on the brakes.

Reese isn rsquo;t around much to take an interest in fatherhood. His lone piece of advice, though, would motivate his son to greatness: ldquo;If you rsquo;re not first, you rsquo;re last. rdquo; It truly is a testament to the film rsquo;s ability to poke without prodding that within the first five minutes we rsquo;re laughing at the sights of a newly-christened father driving irresponsibly with this newborn son in the backseat and said father quaffing beer in front of said son before taking on the time honored roll of deadbeat dad.

Ricky Bobby rsquo;s need for speed becomes a childhood obsession, which morphs into an adult obsession. The grown Ricky (Will Ferrell), now working the racing circuit as part of a pit crew, gets his shot at big-time racing as a last-lap replacement for the regular driver (director Adam McKay). An incredible victory vaults him to the top of the racing profession, affording him all the Southern comfort that money will allow, including a huge house, an ambitious and sexy blonde wife, Carley (Leslie Bibb), and two runabout sons, named Walker and Texas Ranger.

There is a very funny dinner scene, where the Bobby family says ldquo;grace rdquo; over a fast food feast. This is where we rsquo;re introduced to Walker and Texas Ranger and where the film states quite clearly it rsquo;s going to be string of ridiculous jokes tethered to the thinnest of storylines. And that rsquo;s okay when the inmates running this asylum include John C.

Reilly, who plays Ricky rsquo;s best friend and fellow racer, Cal. With his cascading mustache and 25-watt intellect, Cal is the subservient of the pair, who routinely forfeits his own chance to win races by participating in a fancy slingshot move they, quite seriously, call ldquo;Shake and Bake. rdquo; Cal is a dim one, but he rsquo;s starting to wake up to his second-class status in the relationship.

As he demonstrated in Anchorman, Ferrell likes characters who fall hard, then pick themselves up and triumph at the end. Here, Ricky wipes out spectacularly during a race and becomes a head case. He thinks he rsquo;s paralyzed from the waist down and even plays wheelchair basketball with truly disabled hospital patients.

He also can rsquo;t get back into a racing car without thinking he rsquo;s on fire. Making matter worse, Cal moves in on Bobby rsquo;s wife, Carley, in a major plot development that happens so quickly that it rsquo;s like everyone threw up their hands and said, ldquo;sure it makes no sense, but it rsquo;s funny. rdquo; And it rsquo;s true.

It is funny.

Even funnier is Sacha Baron Cohen (what a 2006 he rsquo;s having!), who plays Formula One driver Jean Girard.

If you think the hard driving, hard drinkin rsquo; Southerner takes a beating in Talladega Nights, wait until you see how the Gallic are treated. Speaking tortured, French-accented English, the gay Girard (whose boyfriend is played by former Late Night with Conan O rsquo;Brien sidekick Andy Richter) come to America to compete in NASCAR events in a car sponsored by Perrier. He also sips macchiatos and reads Camus while racing.

(I think Southerners should be insulted by a film that believes that anyone who reads literature and drinks exotic coffee beverages would be poison to them.) Sometimes you wonder whether the filmmakers are making fun of the French, or making fun of Southerners for being intolerant. It matters not when you rsquo;re laughing this hard.

At his lowest point, Ricky gets long-overdue fatherly help when Reese comes back into the picture. His brand of tough love, which includes teaching Ricky to conquer fear by driving with a cougar in the passenger seat, works. Soon, Ricky is back on track and the film comes down to a mano-a-mano battle between Ricky and Girard.

As mentioned before, the story is thin, but it rsquo;s a tough piece of filament. Ferrell and McKay rsquo;s script manages to convey enough empathy for its characters that even when the comedy is at its most tangential (six German Shepherds stacked in a pyramid?), the characters still have weight.

Talladega Nights is one of the, if not the, funniest comedies of 2006. Some may be laughing from recognition and some may be laughing because it confirms the most insulting Southern clich e s. Either way, we rsquo;re laughing.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film rsquo;s theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1 is presented in anamorphic video on the DVD.

The overall picture quality is a smidge above average. Colors are bright and saturated but there are problems that keep the transfer from averaging better than a B minus. Finely grained textures are about average.

Freeze framing on a GQ Magazine, I could read about 2/3 of the type on the magazine rsquo;s cover. Small object detail is average, as most faces start to get fuzzy the farther they are in the background. Color intensity is excellent in the exterior scenes, but flesh tones look a little smudgy.

Interior night scenes, like the scene 47 minutes into the film (it rsquo;s a plot point I don rsquo;t want to reveal) are below average, with contrast that is lacking and some visible grain. There are light edge halos, but they rsquo;re confined to the racing scenes. Contrast is above average in the exterior scenes, below average in the interior scenes.

Shadow detail is not very good, as clothing and other darker objects show no detail. The print looks pristine. A disappointing transfer if you were expecting greatness.

But on Blu-ray Disc, virtually every objectionable characteristic of the DVD rsquo;s video is resolved, but that isn rsquo;t to say that the transfer is demonstration level quality. The color palette is exceptionally vivid. The racing word is full of colorful driving suits, pit suits, cars, and fans.

Primary reds, blues, and yellows (Wonder Bread is Rick Bobby rsquo;s major sponsor) leap off the screen. Skin tones seem reasonably natural, although I suspect a tad more pancake makeup than was truly necessary was applied. Shadow detail is very good.

And the level of detail is excellent. In long shots of the stands, each fan rsquo;s head is clearly discernable. And that page from GQ is clear enough to read easily.

The contrast dynamic range is exceptional, to the point where it seems unnatural. Whites don rsquo;t bloom, but they are searingly bright. The sky is rarely blue; instead its overwhelmingly white.

The overall effect on outdoor scenes is that something isn rsquo;t quite right. Indoor scenes, on the other hand, are lit well and seem much more natural. I wonder if the filmmakers intended to make the film appear hyper-real.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is good in the dialogue-driven scenes, but not as good as I hoped during the racing scenes.

Dialogue comes mostly from the center and is clean, although occasionally it could have been punchier. The dialogue always stayed true, even when people yelled at the top of their lungs. I was hoping for some serious rumbling during the race scenes, but the bass is strangely subdued.

The driving and the crashing and crowd noise are nicely detailed, but they didn rsquo;t jump out of my speakers. The music, some of it rock and some of it orchestral, also sounded detailed, but it came from the center speaker with not much play from the sides. Surrounds didn rsquo;t do much but provide ambience.

Low end came into play nicely during the racing scenes, but otherwise, there wasn rsquo;t much punch in the bass. A good mix that should have kicked more ass.
Since, as I frequently apologize for, I rsquo;m still resolving my bass management problems, on the Blu-ray Disc, I listened to what is most likely the same Dolby Digital 5.

1 track as found on the DVD. And the description for the DVD track is just as applicable for the track on the high definition disc. The biggest disappointment is the bottom end.

Powerful racing engines have virtually no noise suppression that would constrict exhaust flow and adversely affect torque and horsepower. There doesn rsquo;t seem to have been any attempt to capture what should have been remarkably dramatic sounds. There is one subtle hint that the mix might be a little different; I found that the surrounds did come alive during the racing scenes, with dynamic pans to the side surrounds and to the center surround.

I will also mention that enabling EX decoding definitely helps stabilize the soundfield around the viewer.

Both discs have an optional French Dolby Digital 5.1 track and French and English subtitles.

The Blu-ray Disc also has subtitles in English DSH.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Since the Blu-ray Disc is a dual-layer 50 GB disc, there is ample room for all the supplements found on the DVD.

The main differences are: the selection of trailers is different on the two formats; and, the supplements on the Blu-ray Disc, with the exception of the NASCR spots, are all in very nice high definition. (I must mention that on Blu-ray Disc, the deleted scenes actually look more film-like than the feature, which drew me to conclude that the look of the movie was an intentional artistic decision made by the filmmakers.)

You rsquo;ll find some laughs during the film rsquo;s closing credits and immediately after.

The silliness extends to the supplements, which are mostly just repositories for ad-libs. But some of this material is pretty funny. High concept audio commentaries are always terrible.

But this commentary, featuring Will Ferrell and some guest stars, is pretty funny. The concept is that the commentary is being recorded as part of the movie rsquo;s 25th anniversary celebration. Ferrell is joined by Darnell McKay, the ldquo;son rdquo; of director Adam McKay, who was ldquo;killed rdquo; by being eaten by a hammerhead shark.

Darnell says that the film ldquo;changed the cultural course of American history rdquo; and that ldquo;without this film, American doesn rsquo;t go on existing. rdquo; It rsquo;s that kind of commentary. Normally, this would be tiresome after about 3 minutes.

But the occasional infusion of guest stars (including John C. Reilly participating via speakerphone) keeps things moving.

There are seven deleted/extended scenes on offer, adding up to a little less than twenty minutes.

A couple of the scenes feature Ricky rsquo;s ldquo;hot rdquo; wife, Carley. They slow down the movie, but they prove that actress Leslie Bibb has the chops to hang with Ferrell. In one scene, she states, rdquo;my ass has caused four traffic accidents, one of them fatal.

rdquo; In another, she announces that the family is getting free satellite TV in exchange for putting ldquo;Fig Newtons rdquo; on the windshield of his racecar.

Next is the Gag Reel, which is over two minutes long, although if you remove the racing footage transitions, there rsquo;s only about two minutes of real meat. Considering the funny folks involved, I rsquo;d expect the gag reel to be funnier.

My theory is they partially pruned it down by removing any foul language and otherwise blue material. It rsquo;s a weak gag reel. Video quality matches the feature.

Line-O-Rama is a five and a half minute collection of ad-libs. And when you rsquo;re talking about Will Ferrell, Sacha Baron Cohen, and John C. Reilly, there are some very funny ad-libs.

This is much funnier than the Gag Reel. Video quality matches the feature.

There are two sets of phony interviews.

One features Ricky and Cal (5:31) and the other features Cal and Carley (4:17). The Ricky and Cal interview sounds like a whole mess of ad-libs, strung together as an interview. The Cal and Carley interview sounds like it was meant for the film, but was cut.

It rsquo;s worth a heavy skim.

Will Ferrell Returns to Talladega shows the former Saturday Night Live funnyman at the actual Talladega speedway where he acts a Grand Marshal. We see him chatting with the press and getting a couple of laughs in the pressroom (including a line about watching Kramer Vs.

Kramer for research). We also hear from some NASCAR racers, but since no one remembered to subtitle their names, I have no idea who they are. I guess we rsquo;re just supposed to know them magically.

Bonus Race Footage is over a minute of second unit racing material shot for the movie. So it rsquo;s basically a bunch of purty-lookin rsquo; cars driving around the track until a crash at the very end. Pretty pointless.

NASCAR Page is even more pointless. It includes three NASCAR-related TV commercials and a plea to visit nascar.com.

On the DVD, there rsquo;s an assortment of trailers. The menu includes The Pursuit of Happyness, Click, Ghost Rider, Spider-Man 3, The Da Vinci Code, Stomp the Yard, Little Man, The Benchwarmers, and Seinfeld Season Seven.

On the Blu-ray Disc, you rsquo;ll find a subset of those, including Click, The Da Vinci Code, and Little Man.

And it rsquo;s during the high definition trailer for The Da Vinci Code that the bass problem with the feature film becomes even more obvious; the trailer has a great bottom end.

Final Thoughts

As the current king of inspired stupidity, Will Ferrell knows how to hit all quadrants. Men and women, young and old will all get a kick of this gleeful throwaway comedy, one in which Ferrell and his cohorts manage to gently ridicule NASCAR without insulting its fans.

The DVD rsquo;s transfer is slightly above average; the Blu-ray Disc rsquo;s transfer is far, far better, but still looks a bit odd for entirely different reasons. The audio could have been punchier, but it rsquo;s fine. The extras are an extension of the movie rsquo;s silliness.

Despite the slightly inflated SRP for the Blu-ray Disc, both discs are recommended.


Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 2006 / 122 Minutes / Unrated

For more in depth DVD reviews please visit the Crave Online's partner site .