Thank God! A movie that is actually funny!

Rating: 9/10 (11 July 2004)

I was afraid I'd be getting another Dodgeball here, especially when I saw that the completely talentless Vince Vaughn was on the payroll, but nope. This doesn't pull any punches. It's also the movie that Will Ferrell deserves to star in. He's far too funny to make crap like Old School and Elf. This is his movie and he dominates. His talent with words is unmistakable. He plays arrogant anchorman Ron Burgundy, of course. Christina Applegate wants to take his job away from him and become the first anchorwoman in the United States (the story takes place in the 1970s). Applegate doesn't have too much to do here, although some of her insults are classic. She's mostly the straightman here. Most of the laughs after Ferrell come from his news team, made up of Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and Steven Carell. They're all funny, but Carell, as a weatherman with a tiny IQ, gets the most laughs. The movie is successful both when it is playing jokes on Burgundy's arrogance and when it gets entirely surreal. The funniest scene in the film involves a huge rumble between five different news teams. I could hardly breathe during this sequence. And the climactic scene is outrageous! Anchorman also employs two devices that usually betray a sense of desperation, the celebrity cameo and outtakes during the credits. It might be the only time these cameos ever made me laugh, and the outtakes are really funny mostly because they are made up of alternative improvisations. Except for an outtake from Smoky and the Bandit that hilariously sneaks up. I can't imagine that there'll be a funnier movie this year. In fact, as it is easily the most consistently good movie I've seen in 2004, it probably qualifies as my favorite film of the year, at least so far. 9/10.