They Should Name the Editors Dr. Quinn and Medicine Woman: Taladega delivers spurts of comedy, but lacking overall as a movie

Let me first say that I had the pleasure of seeing this film twice opening weekend(ish.) Let me say secondly that I do not suggest that.

The first time I watched Taladega Nights, I very much enjoyed myself and found it quite hilarious. The second time I saw it, I noticed all the painful flaws the film had, and chuckled maybe once.

Anchorman writer/director Adam McKay teamed up with actor/writer Will Ferrell (who plays Ricky Bobby) to display to rest of the world the NASCAR universe with Taladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Ricky Bobby grew up wanting to go fast, and worked his way up to being a member of the pit crew with his best friend, Cal Naughton, Jr., played by the hilarious John C. Reilly. When their driver decides to give up on a race, Bobby takes the wheel and soon becomes NASCAR's top dog. Eventually, a threat enters in the form of a French Ali G, aka Brit mock-hip-hop star, Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays Jean Girrard, a French racecar driver. A rivalry breaks out, and Ricky ends up alone. He and his two sons, Walker and Texas Ranger (Houston Tumlin and Grayson Russel) go home to Ricky's mother (improv funny lady, Jane Lynch) and take a vast emotional trip to recognizing the importance of family and those who love you. I think.

With all the comic genius going into this film, there is no doubt that it is, in fact, very funny. SNL fans will be especially happy every now and then when Molly Shannon makes her very few appearances as the wife of team owner Larry Dennit, played by Greg Germann. Ferrell has his usual funny moments, though Reilly seemed to steal a lot of the comic scenes, especially if you stay to watch the hilarious outtakes. Another thing you may notice if you watch the outtake-filled credits is that oh yeah, Micheal Clarke-Duncan is in this movie... and is actually very funny. Unfortunately for him, in the film, his character is insignificant and his talents wasted. A talent that was not wasted was that of Junebug Amy Adams (no, it's not Isla Fisher, the redhead from Wedding Crashers... although if you think that at first, you're not a loser... it's ok.) Adams' character, Susan, though almost nonexistent the the first three quarters of the movie, comes out towards the end with a rousing monologue of hope and encouragement, and suddenly becomes Ricky's new love interest.

The word "suddently" is a word that can be used a lot to describe the plotline of this film. There are so many holes that I especially noticed the second time around where things jump, stuff seems cut out, and we're rushed into the next scene. Arguably, many films fall into the trap of too much exposition, but in this case, we, the audience, were left wondering what happened. The team owner, Mr. Dennit, suddenly is replaced by his son, Larry Dennit, between two scenes with no explaination. Ricky challeneges Jean Girrard to a race, tells his crew to get his car, and then the next scene is a different day, with him test driving. Also, many of the hilarious lines from the trailer did not exist in the film. For instance, a line from the cougar scene was cut, and the brilliant line in the bar "You can't have two number 1's." "Cause then you'd have 11." was also not in the film, once again, cutting back on Reilly's comic wit. One theory behind this is that the filmmakers purposely left out these scenes so that they could release the "extended edition unrated dvd with 17 minutes of extra footage never before seen!" I guess we'll just have to wait until the dvd release for that.

Overall, if you liked comedies like Anchorman and 40-Year-Old-Virgin, you'll enjoy this film. It definately is not up to par with some of its priors, but it is something worth seeing. If you have not seen it yet at this point, however, it may be worth it just to wait until the dvd release to see if they fill in the gaps. If at all possible, watch it with a gay man... just to watch even him cringe at Baron and Andy Richter, who plays his lover, kiss.

Overall Grade: B