Talladega Nights is a surprisingly effective tale of taking responsibility for your life and being a better version of yourself

I was watching the now 16-year-old movie and was actually a little shocked. In my mind the movie was a raunchy comedy but seeing it now I was struck by how well it works as a morality tale /growing-up story.

See if you take the comedy part out of the equation the basic plot of the movie is: a man who is obsessed with his own legend and cares mostly about success, money, and appearances hits rock bottom and learns to grow up and put his family and friends first.

This is the plot of Jake Gyallhalls Southpaw but whereas Southpaw takes a heartbreaking, dramatic approach, Talladega Nights goes absurdist, but the message is the same. You have to take responsibility for your life. After he hits rock bottom he realizes that he needs to change and he wants to be better, he learns to parent better, connect with his mother, forgive his father and treat his best friend like a friend.

Personally, I think the movie when stripped away from the antics of Will Farrel and John C Riley and you get a surprising reflective film about learning to unlearn your bad habits and change your perspectives. In a way, it is a surprisingly enlightened film that also features a man who believes he is on fire screaming for Tom Cruise to use his Witchcraft!

Submitted April 10, 2022 at 10:37AM by TheMediocreCritic https://ift.tt/wIr2nTN