Good, but a big drop off after the hilarity of Anchorman

Rating: 7/10 (7 August 2006)

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, in my mind, is one of the funniest (perhaps the funniest) films of the current decade. This similar-sounding film comes from the same team of writer/director Adam McKay and writer/star Will Ferrel. It's not at the same level as Anchorman, unfortunately. It has its share of huge laughs  far more than enough to make the film worth seeing. It's just not as consistently funny. The audience frequently laughed loudly, but there was a fair share of jokes that were dead in the water. Crickets could be heard occasionally. Unlike Anchorman, there are only a couple of lines worth quoting, and I kind of doubt that people will ever be referencing it. McKay and Ferrell also try to insert a heart into the picture. Generally, I think this is a mistake. While heartfelt comedies do work, sometimes (like in Anchorman) it's just nice to have something that makes you laugh your butt off. I think, for example, the Farrelly brothers have really lost their way, and I think last year's The 40 Year Old Virgin, of which Talladega Nights is 2006's equivalent, sacrificed many laughs in order to be sweet. Surprisingly, it works quite well in Talladega Nights. It is actually a bit painful to watch Ricky Bobby and his best friend (played by John C. Reilly) split up. The material with Ricky's neglectful father (played by Gary Cole, most famous for his role as the wishy-washy boss Lumberg in Office Space) is actually quite potent. The audience was audibly upset near the end of the film when it looked like this character was going to have a change of heart, but doesn't. It's quite impressive, honestly, that McKay and Ferrell didn't compromise just to please the audience and have a happier solution with that character. Just one of the many reasons why I can't help but have some affection for this movie.