Best comedy since Airplane!

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2004)

I saw this opening night, at a theater where middle schoolers come to socialize, not watch movies. I braved the crowd hoping for a performance from Will Ferrell as good as in "Elf." I was not disappointed.
Ferrell is at his comedic pinnacle in "Anchorman," but he is not the only bright spot (we'll get back to him later). Christina Applegate shines in her role as Veronica Corningstone, the sexy newcomer to the San Diego news scene, much to the chagrin of her new co-workers. Paul Rudd is adequate in a smaller role than expected (not to discredit him, he was just surrounded by comic gold). David Koechner also performs well, which could prompt people to think "That guy was on SNL? When? Did I miss something?"
But the show-stopper was Steve Carrell. The Daily Show alum got his first real taste of the big screen in Bruce Almighty, but in Anchorman he displays perfect comedic timing as Brick Tamland, the weatherman who later finds out that he has an IQ of 48 (luckily, we are told this in the first ten minutes so that his role makes sense). Throughout the film, we are reminded of this by countless moments of innocent stupidity, a difficult thing to portray. Carrell pulled it off and added at least 20 great laughs along the way.
Now, to the main event: Mr. Ferrell. The ads for this movie misrepresent who Ron Burgundy is. They make him seem shallow, dumb, callous, unkind, and downright annoying. That might be because I saw only a few shots in the movie that were actually in the ads. Ferrell's Burgundy is somewhat self-absorbed, but for that matter so is Veronica. Remember, this was the Me Decade. Ferrell does have moments of his standard comic styling (odd lines, sometimes screamed while in an odd situation), but this character is entirely different than Old School's Frank the Tank or Elf's Buddy. It has the feeling that this man really existed, has horrifying as that may seem.
At times, Anchorman goes into fantastical scenarios, but I felt later that they were all done in a way that reminded me very much of a Monty Python skit that was made for a broader audience.
Whether or not Anchorman is a great movie or not, one thing is certain. You will laugh. Hard. You might have to watch it twice to get all the things you missed. I know I will.
So, for all these reasons and more, I consider it the greatest comedy since Airplane! and it is also on my Top 10 List of All Time, which is, to give you a bearing of my tastes:
1. Lord of the Rings (all of em) 2. Pulp Fiction 3. Indiana Jones (3, then 1, then 2) 4. As Good As it Gets 5. Kill Bill 6. The Godfather 7. Snatch 8. Anchorman 9. Reservoir Dogs 10. Big Fish
These are not my picks for the greatest ever, just my favorites.