Of wit there is little but it'll do

Rating: 5/10 (5 September 2010)

Oh dear, I feel such a heel writing this, but The Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy just isn't very good, although, ironically, it can in parts be very funny. It all comes down to what you want I suppose, and, sorry, but I like a little wit, of which there is none in this offering. If you want to send up vacuous TV journalism – and for all its empty-headed vanities, it doesn't really head any particular list of world greatest evil's as an obvious target of satire – that job was done far better by Broadcast News. If you merely want to raise a laugh or two, well, you could do worse. But for my money you could also do a lot better. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and the rest cut their teeth on Saturday Night Live (which, living in Britain, I have never seen) and that figures because in many ways The Anchorman is episodic with its stars merely repeating their various schtick from that series. If there's a story of sorts, it merely serves the purpose of linking those different comedy episodes together. This isn't in any way bad, it just isn't particularly outstanding. Two and a half cheers.