Dear Lord Baby Jesus, thank you for this wonderful film. It brightened up my summer at the cinema and will more than likely make a wonderful addition to my DVD collection when it is released.

“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” is a Will Ferrell movie that, like its predecessor “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” thrives on being silly and poking fun at a character who thinks he is greater than he is. Unlike “Anchorman,” this movie adds some layers that make it more a complete film, such as a cohesive plot and character arcs.

Ricky Bobby grew up in a small North Carolina town and he never knew his daddy, Reese. He still had Reese’s genes though, which left him with the desire to go fast. One day, Ricky gets a chance to move from the pit crew to the race track and from then on, he dominated the sport of stock car racing. His longtime best friend, Cal Naughton Jr., played wonderfully by John C. Reilly, also gets on the track and often helps Ricky win the race. All is well until a French driver, Jean Girard joins the sport and unseats Ricky as NASCAR’s top driver.

Ricky crashes, both on the track and in life. His wife leaves him for his best friend, he and his two kids, Walker and Texas Ranger, move back in with his mother and he ends up delivering pizzas on a bicycle. Reese re-enters his life and tries to teach him how to get his confidence back and how to get his life back on track. If you have ever seen a sports movie, you know what happens next.

“Talladega Nights” is full of gut-busting laughs and Ferrell and Reilly are a great team on screen. It is Gary Cole’s performance as Reese Bobby though that steals the show. Cole is quite possibly one of the greatest character actors working today and if you look him up on imdb.com, you’ll see a number of performances from him that you’ve probably really enjoyed.

The movie also moves at a decent pace, giving the audience a good measure of the back-story before launching into Ricky’s descent and eventual re-emergence as a champion. Like “Anchorman,” no joke is too silly for “Talladega Nights” and while you have likely seen umpteen commercials and previews of the film, be assured that some of those clips don’t even make the movie. I guess they will be part of the extended scenes on the DVD.

There are a few weaknesses in the film. For one, Reilly’s character disappears while Ricky learns to love racing again. It makes sense for the story but it would have been nice to have more of him. The same could be said for Sasha Baron Cohen as Girard. The man is a gifted comedian and a few more scenes with him and Andy Richter as his husband would have been fun. There is also the under developed character of Susan, Ricky’s former publicist or something, played by Amy Adams. She has a good scene or two at the end, but really nothing early on and it makes the ending seem a little strange.

That said, this is a movie out for laughs and it succeeds mightily. There are long stretches where the laughs come one right after another and the sold-out audience I saw this with last weekend seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.

This is one of my favorites of the summer.

***1/2

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