The idiot savant of NASCAR racing returns to home theater screens to tempt fans to rejoin his hijinks in a new 4K disc presentation contained within a shiny metal box in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby — 20th Anniversary SteelBook Edition (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, unrated, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, 122 minutes, $39.99).
Lovingly satirizing the extreme sport, director and co-writer Adam McKay first focuses on a definitive origin story from Ricky Bobby’s birth in the back seat of a speeding 1968 Pontiac GTO to his daddy abandonment issues to winning a professional race in reverse and his obsession with endorsement deals.
We also get a tale of redemption after champion Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) loses a race to new teammate and rival Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) in a terrible crash and then loses his mind, his trophy wife Carley (Leslie Bibb), his best “shake and bake” friend Cal Naughton Jr. (John C. Reilly) and his racing team in the process.
His rehabilitation moves from catatonic shock to psychosomatic hysterical paralysis to getting back in shape with help from his mother Lucy (Jane Lynch), miscreant father Reese (Gary Cole) and an ornery cougar.
The laughs are as fast as the driving while observing humans of questionable intelligence perfectly mixing with unabashed comedic creativity. The chemistry between the lead actors takes the film to the winner’s circle once again.
Additional laugh support comes from the ensemble cast that includes Michael Clarke Duncan as Ricky’s crew chief Lucius Washington; Amy Adams as Mr. Bobby’s former assistant-turned-girlfriend Susan; Molly Shannon as the team owner’s pickled wife, Mrs. Dennit; and David Koechner and Jack McBrayer as crewmembers.
Worth noting are a pair of hilarious, potty-mouthed children, Houston Tumlin and Grayson Russell, as Mr. Bobby’s kids Walker and Texas Ranger, respectively. Those two are the highlight of the movie.
Viewers get the tighter-edited original cut (108 minutes) and an extended cut adding roughly 15 minutes more of exposition and laughs.
4K in action: Both versions of the film have been restored from the original camera negatives, and each sports crisp visuals and a warm color palette.
The highlights offer an abundance of rich reds, whites, yellows and blues on colorful race cars, flags, textured leather jackets packed with patches and striped driver uniforms.
Those looking for detail can examine the shot of one of the longest flipping car crashes in the history of the sport, complete with fire and twisted metal, or a slick trick of a camera swooping down, through and past Ricky Bobby’s car at the start of a race.
Best extras: An avalanche of pointless digital goodies arrives on two Blu-ray discs duplicating the extras from the Big Hairy American Winning Edition from 2016.
They first include an optional commentary track for the theatrical cut, imagined as if it were a 25th anniversary of the film’s release.
A guy named Darnell McKay, the son of a deceased McKay (as played by Adam McKay), jogs memories with Mr. Ferrell and Mr. Reilly (now a military captain leading a rogue militia in lawless Michigan).
The entertaining, fully explored farce might as well have the three sitting in a bar in the dead of night simply reminiscing about their lives with less than zero analysis of the film.
A second track for the extended version features Mr. McKay and inconsequential actor Ian Roberts (who played a pit crew member). It is fairly worthless as the pair meander through bouts of fictional stories and sarcasm and barely manage to make themselves laugh over the verbal buffoonery.
The other extras spread across the pair of discs include over an hour’s worth of alternate or extended takes; 21 minutes of alternate dialogue and raw takes; and 20 minutes of mock interviews, commercials and public service announcements with the main characters.
The most informative of the extras offers 12 minutes of the gum-chewing director’s video diaries, covering snippets of select days of production.
The coveted SteelBook case provides a front image printed over a brushed-silver background and uses the colorful theatrical-poster-style montage.
Ricky Bobby dominates the upper half, with Carley Bobby, Cal Naughton Jr., Lucius Washington and Jean Girard arranged around him, backed by checkered flags and a packed grandstand.
The back cover presents Ricky and Cal standing in their Wonder Bread and Old Spice racing suits in front of a waving American flag, with Ricky’s No. 26 Wonder car stretched across the bottom.
The interior spread reveals a panoramic image from the film’s climactic race.
Ricky and Jean Girard are sprawled and crawling across the Talladega finish line after abandoning their wrecked cars, with the racetrack and spectators continuing seamlessly from one panel to the other.
Across the upper wall of the track is Ricky’s immortal philosophy, split across the two sides: “IF YA AIN’T / FIRST, YOU’RE LAST!”
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