Comical mastery!!

Rating: 8/10 (16 September 2004)

It's been a year of entertainment and some great movies and there has so far been a good standard in comedies. A lot of the comedies have been the usual poor Hollywood tripe but this year we have now probably seen above the average in genuinely funny comedies, far above the average in fact. There has been School Of Rock, Stuck On You, Starsky And Hutch, Scary Movie 3, Shrek 2, Shaun Of The Dead and now Anchorman, all this and I've yet to see Dodgeball that has had a positive response from critics. Anchorman is the years second appearance from Will Ferrell who appeared in a small role in Starsky And Hutch and Ferrell is one of the upcoming stars of the comedy genre. While Eddie Murphy and Steven Martin seem destined to make poor movies made primarily for young kids and are drifting into the land of the unfunny where dinosaurs like Mel Brooks, Rodney Dangerfield play table tennis with Chevy Chase and other former comical masters and box office greats. The current king of comedy Jim Carrey looks set to move away from slapstick, face contorting mugging and into more serious roles because he has the acting ability to do so. So the likes of Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, Jack Black and of course Ferrell are the new guard coming in to rescue us from boredom and tickle our funny bones.
Anchorman is a simple yet excellent premise set during the 70's. Ron Burgendy is a news Anchorman, the best of the best and a mans man and when Veronica comes into the office as firstly a news reporter, Ron and his team of co-horts are suddenly thrown into disarray. Ron initially falls in love with her but after the split he tries to sabotage her and the end up in a bitter feud to become the best anchor. It's all predictable but in truth the story isn't important in a film like this. This is merely a film with a character and situations that allow Ferrell to display his comic genius. Much like School Of Rock was the Jack Black show, this is the Will Ferrell show. It's all about Ferrell, he accounts for the majority of the films entertainment. If Ferrell wasn't as funny as he is the film wouldn't get by on the scripts jokes or the story it's essentially simplistic stuff, almost a blank canvass for Ferrell to work his artistry. Ferrell is unbelievably funny. I like Ferrell but I needed proof he could hold a movie in a lead role, he proves it here. I needed similar proof from Jack Black and he delivered in School Of Rock. Ferrell has excellent support from everybody's favourite former sexy-sitcom daughter, Christina Applegate who is more than adept at comedy. Also some supporting characters by Paul Rudd, Vince Vaughn and a particularly funny role for Steve Carrell as the intellectually challenged weatherman Brick Tamlan.
Overall this is a magnificent piece of popcorn fun and Ferrell proves he has the comedy chops for the big time. ****