Most of the comedy is rather obvious--silly and corny--yet it's often so dumb it's intermittently funny.
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
After his success in "Old School" the year before, Will Ferrell continued his series of goofy characters in 2004's "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," which he not only starred in but co-wrote. This, in turn, led to more goofball roles in "The Producers," "Talladega Nights," and "Blades of Glory," interspersed with occasional warmhearted characters in "Elf" and, his best film to date, "Stranger Than Fiction." But Ferrell knows that it's the outlandish caricatures that pay the bills, so we may see more "Anchorman" kind of roles in his future. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, in "Anchorman" Ferrell plays a throwback to the male chauvinism of an earlier era with his variation on the Ted Baxter TV news anchor. You remember Ted Baxter, played by Ted Knight, from the old "Mary Tyler Moore Show." Baxter looked the part of a dignified elder statesman, with a mane of silver hair, a mellifluous voice, and a brain the size of a jelly doughnut. Ferrell not only plays the same sort of character in Ron Burgundy, the movie even pays tribute to the older show by naming Burgundy's dog "Baxter."
The movie's preface sets the tongue-in-cheek tone: "The following is based on actual events. Only the names, locations, and events have been changed."
The place is San Diego, California; the time is the 1970s, when, as the familiar-voiced narrator, Bill Kurtis, tells us, in "a time before cable the local anchorman reigned supreme, when people believed everything they heard on TV." In this field Ron Burgundy was a legend, a supreme egotist, and complete blockhead. But everybody in town loved him, and his television station was number-one in the ratings.
The movie's high jinks are actually close to the truth. Although attractive talking heads still dominate TV news, in the 1970s and before, there were few or no women involved. At Burgundy's station, he is the anchor of an all-male news team of idiots: Brian Fontana (Paul Rudd) is the reporter in the field; he's so manly he keeps a wall of cologne in his office. Champ Kind (David Koechner) is the sports reporter; he's a loudmouthed macho imbecile. And Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) is the nerdy weatherman; he admits to being mentally challenged. All four of them are male chauvinists to the hilt, and it doesn't help that the program's producer, Ed Harken (Fred Willard), is equally against women on the show.
What little plot there is involves a woman trying to insinuate herself into this clubby male society. She's Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), a reporter the network wants working at the station because of complaints about "a lack of diversity." The word "diversity" confuses most of the male staff, and Veronica is determined to get ahead in a man's world.
Naturally, the male news team resents her, while at the same time they all try to pick her up. She'll have none of it, until she unaccountably falls for Burgundy. And that's about the extent of the story line. What the screenwriters could have developed into a more pointed satire is mostly a series of gags involving the male pigs slobbering over themselves and acting like children whenever Veronica appears, Burgundy's sudden urge to fall in love, and the continued foolishness of the news team.
There are a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, however, and a few assorted smiles, which is better than most comedies provide these days. Willard has the funniest bits in telephone calls to his son's school; Ferrell has a silly piece of business with an embarrassing erection at the office; the team does a delightful harmony on "Afternoon Delight"; and Carell is so amusingly off-the-wall, he could have had the starring role.
Then there are some humorous cameos that liven things up: Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, and Tim Robbins show up as rival news anchors from various TV stations, and an all-out gang fight among the competing news teams is a kick ("No touching the hands or face"). The always entertaining Danny Trejo makes an appearance as a bartender. And Jack Black enters the picture as an outraged motorcyclist.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]22226[/release]