Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby – 2006
Another film that simply couldn’t be ignored, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. With Will Ferrell starring as NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby, it’s a racing movie classic, one that’ll have you grinning for 99 per cent of the ride.
One of the best moments has to be a literal sprint to the finish between Bobby and Jean Girard, played by comedy hero Sacha Baron Cohen. A long –running feud between the pair results in a crash, after which they extract themselves from the cars, remove their helmets and start running to the line – slow motion and a suitably stirring ballad completing the drama. There are a couple of mistakes, however. Firstly, the pair do not remove HANS devices, which were made compulsory in NASCAR after the loss of Dale Earnhardt at Daytona in 2001. Secondly, in the sprint to the line, Bobby’s crew are screaming at him through their headsets to encourage him on, even though his helmet has been removed and there’s no sign of an earbud or radio of any kind. The big continuity error, however, comes in the moments before when the two cars have collided, flipped up and into the air. The crash pulls at least one wheel from each car, and yet once the duo have settled and the camera moves up to survey the scene both cars have all four wheels. At the same time the camera looks at the computer of crew member Lucius Washington, played by Michael Clarke Duncan, and on-screen are the now stationary cars. Oddly, Bobby’s car is wheels down, and yet the crash concludes with both cars wheels up.