In Defense of Will Ferrell

I am a big fan of American slapstick movies, and naturally Will Ferell is one of my favorite actors. One of his movies that is in my "hall of fame" happens to be Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, so I decided to see what kind of reviews this CapAlert guy had about this film.

To be honest, looking at the comprehensive scale of analysis this guy has, and having watched this movie at least seven times, I did not expect a very high rating score, and I was right as it got a miserly 25/100. But that did not bother me at all as much as his rantings on the movies' main themes. Lets break it down shall we?

So there was a gay character involved (Sacha Baron Cohen as Jean Girard). But the way the review describes him and his actions suggests a very anti-homosexual inclination, and I don't think that is appropriate. Granted some people may not like same sex relationships, and maybe kids are too young to be exposed to these things, but the reviewer should not be so dismissive of the movie just because of that. Firstly there were no overtly sexual scenes shown (both gay or straight for that matter) and secondly, this movie did not completely negatively stereotype homosexuals as being weak or failures. Jean Girard more than shows that he is as capable of any straight man, even someone so testosterone fueled as Ricky Bobby himself, as shown by his expert NASCAR driving. The movie's brave decision to include a homosexual as a main character, and the positive portrayal of him overall should be a highlight to this movie instead of a put down.

My other major grouse was how children are "profusely" using expletives. Yes, the two kids in the movie were pretty messed up, but towards the end, they changed for the better through a combination of Asian martial arts and social service. That was not talked about in the review, which I think is totally unfair as there is a message there trying to be sent out; no matter how bad your kid is, he is genuinely good inside.

As for the other parts that were too much for the reviewer, I think he should have an open mind and instead credit Ferrell for the wonderful use of carefully sculpted nudity and profanities to an art called "humor". I just cannot understand why someone won't just laugh deliriously watching Ricky Bobby run around in his underwear in the middle of the race track yelling "The ninjas are going to get me...save me Jesus...save me Allah". While the content is not appropriate for young children, it has to be understood that not a single movie is suitable for everyone at all, and even then it is up to the audience themselves, not some third party reviewer to decide what they want to watch (free market).

As for me, no matter what any review says about this movie, Ricky Bobby is still one of my favorite characters ever, and though he might not be liked by all, he is still an AWESOME guy! "shake and bake"