ANCHORMAN Got Funnier with Time

Rating: 8/10 (5 July 2013)

A former girlfriend once introduced me to ANCHORMAN years ago, swearing it was the funniest movie ever. At the time, I wasn't impressed. It was the usual Will Ferrell routine: over-reactions, loudness, absurdity, and a lead character will an obnoxious level of self- confidence. I must have mentally blocked the movie because, for the longest time, I couldn't remember anything from the movie except "I love lamp" because I had friends who'd quote it. With a new ANCHORMAN movie on the horizon and my appreciation for Will Ferrell somehow growing (I actually enjoyed 2012's THE CAMPAIGN and CASA DE MI PADRE), I decided to give this movie another shot and I actually discovered that I wasn't as harsh on it this time around. It took a few more viewings but I'm almost starting to understand why this movie has such a fan base. ANCHORMAN is set in the world of broadcast news in the 1970s. Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) is the #1 anchorman in San Diego, a beloved celebrity at the top of his game with the support of his Channel 4 news team: Champ Kind (David Koechner), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell). The times are changing and diversity is the new hot topic, so the network decides to hire Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) as part of the team. A woman in the world of network news doesn't sit well with the Channel 4 team and her arrival sends them into a frenzy, except for Burgundy who takes a shine to the new arrival.
Without a doubt, ANCHORMAN is stupid. I'm not going to defend it in that regard, but I will argue that it's stupid/funny. It's certainly not the work of comedic genius my girlfriend had preached it to be, but I'd be lying if I didn't get some good laughs from it. In my opinion, Ferrell's best characters are always the same character. As an actor, he's got a little range but he's only really at his best when he is playing a character with an arrogant sense of confidence and a tendency to yell his lines incoherently when he's distraught. Burgundy is all of this at Ferrell's usual extreme. He's a decent character who actually seems to have a little humanity inside as he's the only one who is not only not threatened by Corningstone's initial arrival, he sees a beautiful woman that he has more than a passing interest in. Christina Applegate holds her own pretty well against the unstoppable force of Will Ferrell. Applegate plays Veronica as confident, talented, and passionate about her career; she is determined to break into the "men-only" world of network news and she's not going to let a couple mental lightweights stand in her way. But she's also sympathetic and not the usual 'stone-hearted feminist' you might expect to find filling this role in a comedy. But as well as Ferrell and Applegate do in ANCHORMAN, most of the best parts are the result of some excellent supporting cast.
Despite Ron Burgundy's name being prominently displayed in the title of the movie, the funniest bits don't come from Burgundy's personal struggles but from the interactions with the entire Channel 4 News Team and more-so when they are face-to-face with their rivals from the other networks. The WEST SIDE STORY gang fight sequence between the different news crews makes the whole movie worth watching and provides the movie with all it's best cameo appearances (that I won't spoil here in case the person reading my comments hasn't seen the movie). David Koechner is sports anchor Champ Kind, who is just an exaggerated version of Koechner's usual characters: loud and obnoxious, usually Southern. He's all right, though he always seems to play the same person. Rudd (who I'd totally forgotten was even in the movie) is man-on-the-street Brian Fantana. Rudd's always great. Even in movie's I can barely stomach, Rudd is generally great. Fantana's the team's sexed-up self-proclaimed ladies' manin his mind anyway. And Steve Carell is weatherman Brick Tamland, a perfect opportunity to showcase Carell's talents for saying completely off-the-wall dialogue with an absolute straight face. Brick is"special"and Carell never fails to elicit laughs. It's no surprise that some of the most funniest bits are from Carell ("Yeah, there were horses and a man on fire. And I killed a guy with a trident."). I've seen this movie a few times now and I'm enjoying more and more each time. Actually, thinking back on it now is making me want to watch it again. After avoiding the movie for so long, I've come to understand why ANCHORMAN is one of Ferrell's most popular movies. It's so dumb, it's funny.