TV-Style Skits Do Not Add Up to a Good Film

Rating: Null/10 (10 July 2005)

I took the advice of an IMDb user who recommended sitting through the closing credits of "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." Unfortunately, the outtakes running through the credits were not funny, and neither was this film.
I realize that Will Ferrell is a popular television personality and comedian. His best comic impersonation has been a dead-on portrait of James Lipton, the interviewer-host of "Inside the Actors Studio." But the "Anchorman" film reveals the limitations of Ferrell in both screen writing and in acting. From start to finish, the film was shallow and the comic moments were uninspired.
The one breath of fresh air in this lackluster film was the performance of Christina Applegate. Her comic timing was superb and, above all, she was the only performer who was convincing as a TV newscaster. But her character was not well developed in a script that was obviously intended as a star vehicle for Ferrell as Ron Bugundy.
Lost in this mess of a film was the important point that in the 1970s there were significant female journalists in the media, such as Jessica Savitch, who paved the way for women news anchors. Ironically, the most competent scene in the film was when the four male newscasters sang a popular love song from the 1970s. Obviously, those four actors were better suited for a barbershop quartet than for a team of television newscasters.