See this film for the cameos, but don't expect anything more. (MINOR SPOILERS)

Rating: 4/10 (11 July 2004)

Unlike the majority of Will Ferrell's films, "Anchorman" isn't full of slapstick humor and mindless gags.
Or so I thought.
Set in the 70's, Ferrell is Ron Burgundy, a respected, womanizing news anchor for the San Diego Channel 4 news. With his entourage of newscasters consisting of Brian Fantana, Champ Kind, and the mentally-absent Brick Tamland, it seems as though Ron is on top of the world and headed straight for a network promotion. That is, until Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), a woman and aspiring news anchor, joins the news station and threatens to dethrone Ron Burgundy.
Corningstone is inevitably promoted and what ensures afterwards is a war of wits (sort of) between the two anchors as they try to sabotage each others' reputations through various pranks and nonsense.
Anchorman began as a promising film, but quickly turned into just another series of unconnected SNL-type sketches. The SNL enthusiasts will enjoy this film, as well as hardcore fans of other Ferrell movies like "Old School" and "Elf".
Some of the dialogue is amusing, but a lot of the film's jokes are recycled, clichÃ©d, and just plain unoriginal. Am I supposed to laugh when someone gets hit in the crotch or in the head?
For me, the only thing saving this film was the climactic battle royal between all of the local news teams, which featured a ton of cameos: Tim Robbins (sporting an awesome afro), Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Stephen Root, Vince Vaughn, and Missi Pyle. Jack Black also makes an appearance, but I'd rather not tell you in what context as that will seriously ruin the hilarity between him and Ferrell's character. The recognizable Danny Trejo also has a spot in the film as a bartender.
Starts out just fine, but gets dry and bland as the film progresses. See this film for the cameos, but don't expect anything more.
Score: 78.3% (Story and Subject: 85%; Entertainment: 80%; Script: 70%; Soundtrack: 75%; Acting: 75%; Set and Design: 85%; Sequences: na)