Fridae

No week seems complete without a new dumb movie. And this week's requisite no-brainer is Talladega Nights starring ubiquitous un-funnyman Will Ferrell. The tagline says it all: "No brake. No brains." (We almost feel like adding: "No review.")

Will plays a racecar driver whose winning streak is challenged by the arrival of a flamboyant gay driver (Sacha Baron Cohen, better known as Ali G) on the scene. So shaken is his self-confidence that Will finds himself temporarily reduced to delivering pizzas on bicycle. You don't want to know how...

Will, a comedian from the sketch show Saturday Night Live (SNL), co-wrote the script with director Adam McKay. Unsurprisingly, the film is less of a movie than a series of sketches and set pieces strung together by a thin plot, sort of like SNL. And as anyone who watches SNL would tell you, on average only half of the gags work while the other half falls flat.

There is, however, one thing about this movie that we really really like. It is the fact that Sacha Baron Cohen plays a gay man who is more suave, more intelligent, more cultured and more fashionable than any other character in the movie. And as we all know, this is completely true of all gay men.