I'm Surprised.

I was just checking out the reviews for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby over at Rotten Tomatoes. The ratings are 75% positive, swhich surprised me. Frankly the ads made me think it's a turkey. After all you usually stick some of the best bits of the film in the ads and trailers to get attention, and if those are some of the best bits the film looks bad to me. Admittedly the film isn't one I'd have much interest in seeing anyways. I'm neither a Will Ferrell nor a NASCAR fan. Given that NASCAR is largely an American fandom it will be interesting to see how well the film does outside North America. Apparently sport films tend not to travel well outside their home markets, which isn't a surprise. For example a German audience wouldn't have much familiarity with American football, and hence have little interest in seeing a comedy revolving around football players.