Young Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) was born in the back seat of his daddy’s car, as his mom was trying to get to the hospital. Unfortunately his dad decided that it was just time to go fast.

A few years later, we stop in on Ricky in elementary school, and it’s career day. As the teacher calls on him, and he tells her that his dad isn’t there, suddenly his dad shows up, to tell everyone that he’s a race car driver, and to dispense the ultimate wisdom: “If you’re not first, you’re last.”

It is these words that Ricky Bobby will live by for quite some time.

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Max Bialystock (Nathan Lane) has just suffered another in a long line of failures. So when accountant Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick) comes to do the books, and notices that he collected more money than he put out, he’s not too anxious to worry about such details.

But when Leo makes the comment that it’s actually easier to come up with deductions and make money on a losing production than it would be to do so on a success, Max perks right up, and decides that perhaps it’s time that he and Leo go into business.

While Leo may be an accountant, you see, he’s always wanted to be a Broadway producer, so the timing is perfect. Max just needs to convince Leo that it’s worth the effort.

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I wrote an entry comparing this movie to Animal House nearly ten months ago, but I never really reviewed the movie itself, so I figured that it was time to rectify that situation.

Overall, the movie is certainly enjoyable. It’s nothing like Animal House, true, but very few movies are. Frankly, I don’t think it’s even as good as Old School, but it’s definitely a closer comparison. The problem is that it simply doesn’t flow. Both Animal House and Old School stayed true to their vision throughout, while Wedding Crashers starts and stops, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.

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This movie was a bit odd in that it was enjoyable from a family perspective – that is to say the kids enjoyed it and it wasn’t too bad for them to watch it – but it didn’t really fit together all that well. It starts off well enough, with Will Ferrell falling short of his father’s expectations (played well by Robert Duvall).

And the laughs start in right away, but then he starts falling into a bit of a funk as his son is benched on the dad’s championship team. You know where it’s going, and that isn’t a big deal, really, but it’s how it gets there that leaves you wanting a bit. It’s no surprise that the dad uses the ringers to get the team all the way to the finals. It’s no surprise that he comes around in the end and the team pulls together to win.

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