e hearts Ricky Bobby

I have to admit to you, my dear friends, that I was worried about Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. I had gone to see Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy with similarly high hopes, and I wasn't the biggest fan of that movie when it was all said and done (it wasn't bad, just not that great).

So it is with great pleasure that I announce that I absolutely loved Talladega Nights, and so did all my peeps who saw it with me. There literally was not a two minute period that went by when we weren't laughing. I was actually worried someone might try to beat us down because we were laughing so much and so hard, but everyone else was, too, so it was all good.

As you know, I will never give anything away, so here is my non-spoilery review:

The entire movie is funny, and even though it's nearly two hours long, they keep it moving very nicely. For example, instead of dragging out how Ricky Bobby came to be married to his "red hot smokin'" wife, a quick series of snapshots summarized their wedding.

I should also note that you don't need to know anything about NASCAR to see this movie (I didn't). Does it rip on that whole scene and lifestyle? Yes, it does, but you don't need to understand the sport or the industry going in (you just might not catch some of the inside jokes and/or driver cameos).

All of the supporting cast is excellent - especially the youngest of Ricky Bobby's two kids, and his father, played by Gary "Mmmmmkay?" Cole (best known (to me, at least) as boss-man Bill Lumburgh from Office Space, another all-time fave).
And of course Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G) is always going to rock.

Also, I should forewarn you to be prepared for a whole new crop of one-liners to enter the pop culture vernacular. There were so many that I cannot possibly list them all out (my peeps and I spent part of the ride home reciting and recapping our favorites), but among the best are:
- THAT. JUST. HAPPENED!
- Dear Lord Baby Jesus...
- Shake and Bake!
- I wanna go fast!
- Help me Tom Cruise!
- If you ain't first, you're LAST.

Other people apparently liked it, too, as it is the #1 movie in the country right now.

I have to mention a few other things about this overall movie-going experience:

1) As always, I made my friends get to the theater over an hour in advance. While there were the line-barricade-thingies set up, there was no line. I was in shock. So we just kind of hung out talking for a while, and then decided that we should go up to the theater level about a half-hour before the movie time (there is a HUGE lobby level with seats and whatnot where we went). We go up to the theater and I was infuriated to find a huge mob of people standing outside of the doors. AAAAAAAAHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Someone did not do their job at the movie theater! But their mistake was to our advantage because in a situation like that, my husband and I are pros. We still ended up getting "middle-middle" seats (middle both horizontally and vertically) in the theater - BOOYA.

2) After securing our primo location, we settled in for some decent previews. One in particular that looked hilarious, and that was extremely appropriate to be shown before a Will Ferrell movie, was a flick called Beer Fest. It was just out of control; I'm definitely going to see that one. I hadn't heard anything about it and it opens this month?!?! August 25th, I will be there!

Perhaps the most unique trailer was for Stranger Than Fiction, in which Will Ferrell finds himself as a character in a story Emma Thompson is writing, even though he is a real person. It has an all-star cast and looked interesting. It is currently slated for a November release, but from what I have read, that could change.

But don't wait for those movies to come out! For the love of sweet lord infant baby-in-the-manger Jesus, go see Talladega Nights, now!