Not quite legendary but worth watching

Rating: 7/10 (17 August 2011)

"Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" represented the directorial debut of Adam McKay, a long-time writer on Saturday Night Live. The film features several SNL cast members, most notably Will Ferrell in the title role.
The story focuses on the 'legendary' Ron Burgundy, a San Diego news anchor living it up in the 1970's. When his superiors hire a female reporter he and his male colleagues greet their decision with resistance. However, Burgundy soon falls for this new addition to the news team, although their professional aspirations quickly turn them into rivals.
The story is pretty loose and isn't especially strong on plot. However, the writing of McKay & Ferrell consistently creates humorous situations that mostly steer clear of cliché. Some might not appreciate the sometimes absurd humour but I found it frequently amusing and, above all, unpredictable. I expect that the movie benefited from improvisation for a considerable number of its jokes.
As for the acting, it's hard to fault a cast that includes Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, Fred Willard, Christina Applegate and others too numerous to mention. Besides the stars & supporting cast there are also a number of notable cameos, including Tim Robbins, to name just one.
Visually, the movie's well done and doesn't show any of the inexperience that you might expect from a first time film director. However, musically is where the film really excels. It's full of nicely chosen period-specific tunes, including a memorable acapella rendition of "Afternoon Delight".
All in all, "Anchorman" delivers the goods comedically but the lack of a strong story means that it isn't quite as good as it could have been. Nevertheless, even as a collection of loosely linked bits of foolishness it manages to keep you entertained.