Spoiler Alert!
While some will just never get the Legend of
Ron Burgundy, I was thrilled to find out that a sequel to the 2004 “Anchorman”
was on the way. Famous for its almost total improvised script, outlandish
humour and unforgettable one liners (“[sex panther] 60% of the time, it
works every time.”) Literally all I need for the director to do is make another
ninety minutes of the same magic and I will be smitten like alpine hunting cat.
It was opening night and the theatre was full. Showtime!
Ron Burgundy has fallen on hard
times. Fired from his job as a Network News Anchorman, he has left his wife and
family and run back to beloved San Diego. Moments after trying to take his own
life in the style of the ancient Japanese Warriors (hanging himself from a
florescent light fitting) he is offered a ray of hope and a new job. Some crazy
fool things the world needs a 24 hour news channel. No one thinks the idea will
catch on, but Ron seizes his chance to reform his news team and have another
shot at life in the Big Apple. Forced to work his way up through the ranks of
competing news teams on the new channel, he decides to take a new approach. Why
just read the news when he could instead entertain? Hilarity ensues as many
contemporary media practices are ‘pioneered’ by the team. As the new methods
take hold, Ron must challenge the world he is help building. Now all he has to
do is fight off his competitors and the shark he hand reared to reach his sons
music recital. Then everything was better. Look – you didn’t go and see this
film for the plot? Did you? No.
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| 93! 93!!! |
The cast are all back! Every one
of your main characters (and many of the supporting ones as well) have returned
for the sequel. This time round much more screen time has been devoted to the shenanigans
of Brick Tamland (Steve Carrell) and Champ Kind (David Koechner). Champs homoerotic longing for Ron (Will Ferrell) gets a
few more gags but Brick get the better end of this extra time. Steve Carrell
has become a far more successful comedian since the previous movie and it makes
sense for him to have more action. Brick is stupid and socially awkward. He now
has a love interest as well! We get to laugh at Brick as he unashamedly behaves
like a moron. Its great fun and only slightly starts to get a bit repetitive by
the end. Only slightly. Paul Rudd returns as Brian Fantana and Christina
Applegate comes back as Veronica. Everyone does there bit and we all
have a laugh. Yay! Other actors come along as well. Don’t worry, these
pretenders to your affection will do ok. Onwards!
Best bit? Hard to say. I have a wealth
of jokes to choose from, set pieces and frankly moments of minstrel spilling
excellence. It has to be the reforming of the news team. We get to meet all our
old heroes, find out how they have been surviving (or dying) since we last left
them. Brian is a world famous pussy photographer. We of course mean baby cats,
but just guess how much fuel this gives the cast? Brick is dead. From the
guests at his funeral we find out that he has no social security number,
address and has never cashed a pay cheque in over ten years. Who was our
beloved weather man? It is left to Brick to give the best eulogy… Champ now has
his own chicken fast food restaurant. Of course you can’t serve chicken as it
costs too much. No, modern chicken restaurants have to serve bat. [Champ: Do
you know what they call bat? Ron: I think it’s just bat, isn’t it? C: No! They
call it chicken of the cave!”]
It wouldn’t be Anchorman without cameos!
Let’s just say there are lots. I have to praise the makers for this element of
Anchorman. It’s not just the number of random star appearances but rather the
(usually) completely unnecessariness of the cameo. I’m not even going to count
comedians. At one point the movie has Liam Neeson, Harrison Ford, Will Smith,
Kirsten Dunst and Kanye West all involved in the same melee. You read that
correctly. The same MELEE. As in a swirling hand to hand combat between multiple
parties. This being “Anchorman 2”, the melee also involves Canadians, an
airstrike, the ghost of Stonewall Jackson, a werewolf and a telepathic psychologist.
Mind melting bliss.
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| This is a minotaur from the end movie melee. A minotaur. From the History Channel. See? It all makes sens | e! |
But it’s not all sweet mahogany.
“Anchorman 2” comes in at approximately thirty minutes longer than the first
film. Frankly, I could tell. I couldn’t help but wonder at one point how much
of the film was left to show. Why? It was all getting a bit too much.
“Anchorman” is not serious. It’s about pure entertainment through outlandish
humour. That’s why I bought my ticket. But the sequel kind of wanted to tell me
something about the development of mass media in the late twentieth and early twenty-first
century. It never gets preachy, but this (tenuous) storyline must hold some
responsibility for the running time. I hate to say it but this might have been
a better movie with thirty minutes cut out. Any thirty minutes. It literally
doesn’t matter.
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| This? Just Ron hand feeding a shark |
And there you have it. “Anchorman
2” is a comedy ride from start to finish. It will not push the boundary of
cinema but will give you plenty of laughs for the walk home.
I give Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues three Brian
faces out of five. Stay sexy San Diego.
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