Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Cast
Will Ferrell .... Ron Burgundy
Christina Applegate .... Veronica Corningstone
Paul Rudd .... Brian Fantana
Steve Carell .... Brick Tamland
David Koechner .... Champ Kind
Rater #1
5/10. As I watched the previews for this movie in theaters and on T.V., I had high, very high expectations for the movie. Most of the funny things that were in the previews didn't even make it to the final version. I even read somewhere that there were som any extra scenes that they're gonna come out with another movie.
What drew me to this movie would have been the laughs. That was the main important theme in this movie to me. I laughed a little bit at some parts, but I never laughed hard or loud. The only time i laughed hard was the erection scene. Only Will Ferrell would do something like that.
The acting was fine, nothing too bad and what not. Will was fine as his character, and his news team wasn't too shabby. What sort of made this movie was the scene where a whole bunch of news teams get together to have a fight. So many cameos. But that was funny just watching them fight
All in all, it was just a so-so movie. See it if you want, but don't blow your money in the theater.
Rater #2
7/10. I have mixed feelings about Will Ferrell. I think he's a very funny
guy and a great improviser, but I still can't let bygones be bygones
and forgive him for making Old School. Although I didn't get around
to seeing Elf, I think that Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is
the movie to make Ferrell a comedy star or not. If his name alone
can fill theaters, I think he'll be hot property for studios in the
future. The trailers for Anchorman made it look promising. I had
watched the trailer many times and kept on laughing. I had hoped
that all of the best parts weren't given away in the trailers, and
much to my surprise, most of the material in the trailer wasn't even
included in the final movie, which I guess was both a blessing and a
curse. It showed that there was even more riotous material than was
in the trailer, but it also meant that some of the great stuff from
the trailer couldn't be in the movie.
Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) is a macho, chauvinistic, popular news
anchorman in San Diego in the 1970s. He and his news team, which
consists of field reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), sports anchor
Champ Kind (David Koechner) and low IQed Brick Tamland (Steve
Carrell), are the number one news team in town. However, Veronica
Corningstone (Christina Applegate) joins the news team and threatens
the masculinity of the station, but also it threatens Ron's job. Ron
and his news team try to do whatever they can to stop Veronica from
becoming the first female anchor, while still trying to get in bed
with her.
The whole premise seems like it's some sort of Saturday Night Live
sketch stretched into a movie (almost like a Weekend Update movie-
now that would be awesome), especially since Ferrell, an SNL alum,
co-wrote the movie. But it's just a silly, funny, stupid movie that
has little plot and relies chiefly on Ferrell's improvisation. He's
a great improviser, and it shows, because it often takes center
stage, taking it from where it belongs: Steve Carrell. Playing the
dimwitted Brick, he has some great lines and actions. He says my
favorite line in the whole movie. I won't spoil it here, but it's in
an argument with a rival station (led by Vince Vaughn). That brings
me to another point. It seems like they don't even try to stay
coherent (like the stylings of The Naked Gun and those types of
movies). It's that type of comedic styling that's always the
funniest.
The laughs seemed to be coming in at a pretty steady pace, but the
main problem is that this low-brow humor didn't warrant that large
of laughs. They were regular, but they weren't that large. You can't
expect perfection, but when you have so much material, I would think
you'd try to find the best of the best. Maybe when this movie is
released onto DVD there will actually be good deleted scenes.
Whenever there's a movie with so much material to use, they always
bring it down to about 90 minutes. Couldn't they bring it up another
half hour? It'd work, I think. But anyway, Anchorman is a great,
leading-role making performance by Will Ferrell, and enough
consistent laughs to satisfy most people. Just beware that whenever
Ferrell's name is on a poster, it usually equates to stupid humor.
But there's nothing wrong with that, is there?
Rated PG-13 for sexual humor, language and comic violence.
Running time: 91 minutes
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