Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Director: Adam McKay

Cast: Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy, Christina Applegate as Veronica Corningstone, Paul Rudd as Brian Fantana, Steve Carell as Brick Tamland, David Koechner as Champ Kind, Fred Willard as Ed Harken, Chris Parnell as Garth Holliday, Kathryn Hahn as Helen, Fred Armisen as Tino, Seth Rogen as Eager Cameraman, Paul F. Tompkins as MC, Danny Trejo as Bartender, Scot Robinson as Waiter at Tino's, Ian Roberts as Stage Manager, Darcy Donavan as Hot Blonde

I went to "Anchorman" expecting another super-mainstream,
lowest-common-denominator, SNL-derived romp. Now, these aren't the
worst movies in the world, to be sure. "Happy Gilmore" and "Old School"
are pretty agreeable ways to while away the time. But usually about an
hour in to these affairs, I've had enough of the broadness and
predictability, which starts to get downright oppressive. It's not just
that they're lowbrow--it's that they're so overwhelmingly,
disappointingly conventional.

Luckily, this isn't what "Anchorman" is. "Anchorman" is a refreshingly
off-kilter outing from an unlikely source--Will Ferrell, the current
reigning lord of middle-of-the-road fratboy Sandlerism. The film has a
lot more in common with Mel Brooks and Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker than
anything in the SNL family tree. It prizes out-and-out silliness and
absurdity over bathroom humor and penis jokes (though there's plenty of
the latter, don't worry), and pulls it off admirably. In essence, the
key to this stuff is never letting off of the goofiness even for a
second--the audience should never be allowed to take anything
seriously.

"Anchorman" achieves this with exceedingly silly and bizarre dialogue
complemented by killer comic performances from Ferrell, Paul Rudd,
Vince Vaughn and Steve Carrel. You'd have to be lobotomized to maintain
a straight face through lines like "It's made with bits of real
panther. So you know it's good." and "I'm riding a big, furry tractor!"
The direction and pacing are also pretty solid at times, and the
requisite celeb cameos are very nicely done (especially in one
particular scene which I wouldn't dream of ruining).

The film's not without its flaws, certainly. Chief among them is the
wasting of one of the best comic character actors in the biz: Fred
Willard. If ever there was someone born to play a smarmy local TV
newsman, Willard is it. But he's inexplicably cast here as a dull
station suit, while David Koechner plods through the sportscaster role
that was clearly meant for him--passable but certainly not as inspired
as Willard would have been. Also, I think that the story would have
benefited if Vaughn and his cronies, the closest thing to villains in
this lightheaded romp, had a little more face time.

But these are comparatively minor problems--the point is that Ferrel
has given us something that's really funny in a way that's appreciably
different from the endless SNL movie-mill. It's not Monty Python, but
it is a healthy departure from what has become the comic mainstream.
Most importantly, the laughs are frequent, long, and deep--check it out
and you won't be disappointed.