Episode 134: The Sports Movie Showcase XXI -- Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

For the to-the-day 20th anniversary of the film, I sit down with my buddy Alex Soderstrom to reflect on Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. The Will Ferrell comedy was part of a big summer for NASCAR on the big screen, along with Cars a couple months prior, in 2006.We talk about how Talladega Nights approaches satirizing NASCAR and how it's aged over the two decades since its release, along with the racing action (including involvement from tons of actual drivers and people involved with the sport) and how it represents that 2000s era of NASCAR.Alex and I also go over the sequence of Ferrell-McKay and Ferrell-John C. Reilly team-ups during the 2000s, along with Ferrell's run of sports comedies from 2005-2008. It's also one of the most quotable comedies of its era; the cast is complemented by a great supporting group including Sacha Baron Cohen, Leslie Bibb and Michael Clarke Duncan; and has a lasting legacy of references and schemes in NASCAR.-------------------------Original intro/outro music created by Christina von Claparede-Crola and Justin Paciocco