For me a comedy needs to do two things — 1) establish a world and keep with it and 2) make me laugh. If a comedy can also make me think and care about the characters, then that’s just gravy. ANCHORMAN is just plain lumpy, mashed potatoes, but I liked the taste of it nonetheless.
When ANCHORMAN works, it’s really funny. When it’s doesn’t, it’s dead silence bad. However, the good really outweighs the bad and it moves on so quickly to a new joke that you forget that the one right before really tanked. Sometimes the joke starts out bad and they just go with it until it works. This is where the talent of the performers is highlighted.
Will Ferrell, possibly the most consistently funny guy working in Hollywood today, plays Ron Burgundy — an anchorman for a local San Diego news station, who has made himself a legend in his own mind. The film is set in the 1970s when men ruled the newsroom and sexual harassment was an alien concept. Ron is worshipped by his crew, which includes Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd, THE SHAPE OF THINGS), dimwitted weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell, THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN) and sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner, A GUY THING). The station head Ed Harken (Fred Willard, BEST IN SHOW) is pressured to add diversity to the newscast and hires ambitious reporter Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate, TV’s MARRIED… WITH CHILDREN). Ms. Corningstone must endure endless harassment and ridicule, but she hangs in there, trying to hold off her attraction to Ron.
Crucial to the film’s success is that it understands the reality of a newsroom in the 1970s and keeps that world consistent. The film takes things to the extreme, but it always remains true to its own absurd internal logic.
Much of the film seems like it was improvised. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. One scene that involves a dog, a burrito and a biker really doesn’t work and brings the film to a screeching halt. But for the most part, I couldn’t help but laugh at the juvenile insanity. It worked mostly because the film is not really juvenile, but the characters are.
Ferrell is so talented and has impeccable comic timing and pose. Watch how other actors break a smile during some funny scenes, but Ferrell is always in character. The film’s silly, off-the-wall style kept me laughing from start to finish. This film didn’t change my world, but it made me laugh, which was all I was asking for.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
