The Most Quotable Comedy Ever

Rating: 10/10 (11 March 2017)

If the mark of a tremendous comedy is the ability to leave the audience quoting its funniest lines long after the end credits roll, than "Anchorman" is one of the greatest comedic masterpieces ever produced.
For a basic plot summary, "Anchorman" is set in the 1970s TV news business, where anchormen rule the roost and women are not given the time of day. As such, legendary anchor Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) feels threatened when female reporter Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) doesn't back down under his comic machismo.
"Anchorman" is a typical Will Ferrell move through and through. That is, the humor comes from watching Ferrell recite the most hilarious of lines with the straightest of faces. Almost every joke is completely ridiculous, but the fact that everyone plays it so straight is where the real humor arises.
Also, Steve Carrell (and to a lesser extent other auxiliary cast members David Koechner & Paul Rudd, among others) nearly steals the show playing the "sidekick" role. In one of Carrell's first film roles, he shows that his type of humor (in the same vein of Ferrell) would be around to stay. "Brick Tamland" provides easily some of the most side-splitting material ever put to film.
Overall, I consider "Anchorman" to be one of the funniest comedy films of all-time for one basic reason: it isn't a complete farce. There are no intensely sexual, bodily secretion, or otherwise gross-out jokes in this film. Just well thought-out and well-acted humor for the duration.