Squawk Radio

Dear Friends,

Last week Greg took me to see Talladega Nights : The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby. Like everyone else in the audience, I laughed until I nearly caused myself physical harm. I adore Will Ferrell, and--argue with me if you will--I think there is something sexy about him. He looks like he would be fun. No matter what character he plays, even when he’s villainous, sneering or egomaniacal, there is a bedrock of sweetness and regular-guy manliness beneath the posturing.

Among the many moments of standout silly fun in Talladega is a scene in which Ricky Bobby thinks he’s on fire after a racetrack crash, and he careens wildly across the screen, back and forth, in his underwear. Part of the comic hilarity of the scene is the fact that Will Ferrell has an ordinary man’s body. He’s not fat--in fact he’s very nicely proportioned IMHO. However, we have all become accustomed to the ultra-groomed, excessively toned physique of movie actors such as Brad Pitt, who doesn’t have a six pack but a twelve pack, so “normal” is almost startling. And funny.

Unlike Brad and other touted movie studs, Will is not waxed, plucked, shaved, moisturized, gym-honed, pumped-up, fake-baked and highlighted. He’s got a big, slightly hairy, real guy body.

Nice.

And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Apparently filmakers, critics and many others have been surprised by women’s positive reactions to Will Ferrell’s real-guy physique. My speculation is that women are tired of the metrosexual. We’re tired of men who have more cosmetics and lotions and hair products in the bathroom than we do. I think women harbor a suspicion that a metrosexual might spend more time in bed admiring himself than his partner . . . and if he’s that conscious of his own grooming, he’ll certainly be hyper-aware of ours.

Will wouldn’t care if your legs were shaved. Will would do whatever you wanted, and make you laugh in the process. Will knows how to play, and how to be a man. Picture Brad in “Troy”, and picture Will as Ricky Bobby, and be honest . . . which one would be more concerned about your needs than his own? I mean, even Superman had to go off with his spit curl and his blue tights and “find himself” for five years while Lois worked as a single parent.

So tell me your thoughts . . . do you prefer Metro or Manly? What do you think of as real manliness? And just how many beauty products should a man be allowed to keep in the bathroom cabinet?