Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (****)
review by Jon Waterman

Ron Burgundy is a man above men. He’s the top rated news anchor in San Diego. The women throw themselves at him and he has the perfect life. Then, she walks in. Veronica Corningstone is hired as a female reporter and the on-camera personalities are livid. In this male dominated workplace, an intelligent woman threatens everything they’ve built at their station and their livelihood.

The trailers don’t do this one justice. If you think you’ve seen all the good jokes from watching the previews, think again. Unlike most comedies, this one delivers line after line, rapid fire. Even the stuff you did see from the ads is funny, now that it’s put in more of a context. The script combines several comedic approaches that work on multiple levels.

First, on the more subdued (not to be confused with subtle) side of things, is the satirical look at the newscasting culture of the 70s. Everyone has great names like Brick Tamland, weather, or Champ Kind, sports. My personal favorite is the rugged, yet identifiable Wes Mantooth. They have their own catch phrases, like “Whammy” and “Stay classy, San Diego.” Each station vies for the top spot in the ratings and will do anything to get it, including a balls-out street war, complete with casualties. That brings us easily into the not so subdued wacky antics portion of the script, which allows anything to happen at any time for one reason – because it’s funny. Few comedies can pull this off without throwing the audience out of the picture. Here, the randomness is built up to in some fashion or another and is utilized to keep the “haha” ball rolling after a string of other jokes.

There are plenty of straight jokes in here as well. Besides the visual gags and the satirical undertones, the dialogue keeps delivering great material virtually non-stop. Writers, and former “Saturday Night Live” buddies, Adam McKay (also the director) and Will Ferrell (also playing Ron Burgundy) fine-tuned the script so that it hits time and time again. As if that weren’t enough, there has to be plenty of improvisation amongst the talented cast. Playing anchors are Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and lastly (and certainly least) David Koechner. Their boss is the fantastic Fred Willard. There’s just something about David that just doesn’t strike me as being funny. Perhaps he tries too hard or maybe he never gets the good lines, but whatever it is, he’s deadwood. Other than that, these guys are hilarious. Will can be hit or miss depending on what the film or character is. “Elf” for example did not properly showcase his abilities. Here, he’s amazing. McKay made a great decision in letting the cast loose to see what may pop out of their mouths. This freedom to create on the spot makes the movie even better.

The movie surprised me. The trailers made me think it’d be good for a few laughs, but I was rolling until the lights came up. In fact, there are several scenes in the previews that don’t make the final cut, so if you didn’t like what you say, it may not even be in there. No matter what, I can safely say this is the funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time. Stay classy, filmbrats.

respond to jon@filmbrats.com