ANCHORMAN 2

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

Grade: B-

Starring: Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Meagan Good, James Marsden and Kristen Wiig

Premise: San Diego newsman Ron Burgundy gets a position on a 24-hour news channel in New York City, where his quirky style of delivering the news becomes an unexpected hit.

Rated PG-13 for profanity, constant crude and sexual humor (including graphic sexual dialogue, racial slurs, and constant innuendos), drug references and brief violent images

Less than a minute after Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues ended and the credits came on, a couple descending the stairs to leave the auditorium passed right by me, and I distinctly heard the woman say: “That was the dumbest movie I’ve ever seen.”  That is a completely valid response to this movie. Like most of star Will Ferrell’s movies, it leaves ideas like serious, logical, reasonable, and sophisticated at the door, or so far outside of the door you don’t even know where they went. It easily comes down on the outrageous side of comedic. It’ll make your jaw drop as it goes in the stupidest and most out-of-nowhere directions it could, ruining even the pretense of being a decent, fulfilling comedy. It was only made for one reason: to make people laugh, and laugh loud. That’s it. Uncontrollable giggles, throaty chuckles, embarrassed snorts and wheeze-inducing cackles—writers Ferrell and Adam McKay (also the director) are out to induce them all…and, in my theater, they did. There’s not a moment in there that’s meant to be taken seriously, or to have any sort of actual impact on an audience. So let me be clear: if you are not a fan of Will Ferrell (perhaps excepting the gentler Christmas comedy Elf), turn and run. RUUUUUN. If your movies need to be serious—or, at least, meaningful—this one is not for you.

If you read this blog consistently, or know my taste in movies, this might seem hypocritical. I’m not much of a fan of Will Ferrell, co-stars Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, or fellow absurdist comedians Jack Black and Adam Sandler. I’m not usually one for a movie full of meaningless laughs and dumb gags. I could easily write a long review thoroughly trashing this movie—I’m tempted to do it, in fact—and I would sleep perfectly fine tonight. But seeing that I just laughed more than I have at the movies since July’s Despicable Me 2, and that there’s little question this movie is more outright entertaining than many of the movies it’s currently sharing cinemas with (The Wolf of Wall Street, 47 Ronin, American Hustle, etc…), I’ll give it a pass. For once, I’ll sing the praises of this sort of absurdist comedy.

Brace yourself.

Plot

Famed mustachioed San Diego newsman Ron Burgundy (Ferrell, as fearless as ever) almost lost his job to his wife, Veronica Corningstone (the terrific Christina Applegate), in the previous movie, and, here, early on, he does. His ego can’t take it, so he leaves his wife and young son (Judah Nelson) and wallows in self-pity. Then, out of nowhere, he gets an offer to be part of a handsomely-paying New York City news program that’s going to break new ground by offering round-the-clock, nonstop news. Ron jumps at the chance, but, of course, he won’t take the new position without his old team: blowhard sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner), cocky/horny reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), and barely-there weather reporter Brick Tamlin (a delightfully-funny Steve Carell). They go to New York, where Ron finds his new boss (Meagan Good) is both female and African-American, and she already has an ace prime time reporter, smug looker Jack Lime (James Marsden). Right away, Ron gets in deep water by impulsively betting Jack that his graveyard shift (2-5 a.m.) will get higher ratings than Jack’s prime time slot, or he’ll go back to San Diego. Somehow, he gets those ratings, and changes the face of TV news forever, when he reports on what America “wants to hear”—that is, sex, cute animals, and patriotism. Soon, he is the ace reporter, getting his channel the best news ratings on TV, garnering nonstop press, gaudy awards, and physical affection from his boss. But when a freak accident threatens to throw Ron’s life out of whack, he’s forced to reconcile with his estranged wife and son, when continuing as a TV newsman might be out of the question.

What Doesn’t Work?

It’s all utter ludicrous, of course. From Ron’s inability to stop saying “black” when he finds out his boss is that, to the way he makes Jack Lime legally change his name to Jack Lame after losing the bet, to the idea that anyone as lost as the dumb-as-a-wall Brick could have a regular job, Anchorman 2 has all the serious intelligence of a second grader. The vast majority of the humor is immature, eye-roll-inducing junk. There are some more biting bits, but when a key late-act plot development is diverted by a lengthy gag that’s just a throwback to the first movie, anyone who doesn’t know the franchise will believe the movie has utterly lost its mind. Despite a grin-inducing explosion of sudden celebrity cameos in the scene (Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Will Smith, Kirsten Dunst, Sacha Baron Cohen, Harrison Ford, Kanye West and Vince Vaughn among them), you can feel the theater deflate as any attempt at heart or integrity flies out the window. Anchorman 2 is stupid, and even I will acknowledge that. In fact, I doubt I’ll ever watch the whole thing again.

What Works?

That said, this movie has its own special brand of magic. Ferrell keeps you on the edge of your seat, breathlessly waiting for the next politically-incorrect tidbit to make you shout with laughter. Carell has never been this funny, not even on The Office—his mere appearance is often enough to make you chuckle. His scenes with former SNL leading lady Kristen Wiig (as an equally-spacey office attendant/love interest) are quiet, absurd triumphs. As mentioned, Applegate is terrific despite being the only actor who plays it straight for the vast majority of the movie (not an enviable position to be in for this kind of movie, but she works wonders). And serious movie buffs will wonder how the hell Ferrell and McKay managed to convince Liam Neeson and Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard to join in the mix at the third act’s wild crescendo.

This movie will be quoted for years, with some extended bits bordering on sheer genius (Ron’s attempt to cross racial lines and bond with his boss/girlfriend’s family over dinner is edgy comedy at its best, and when Ron goes blind for a chunk of the movie’s second half, his assertion that all his senses have been ruined—he can’t taste, smell, hear or feel anything, either, supposedly—is riotous…”This morning, I tried to brush my teeth with a live lobster!”). Movies like this are often less fun in hindsight than they are in the present, and Anchorman 2 is a gold-mine of little bits you’ll remember and laugh about: “I bottle-fed and raised a shark…” “this white thunder goes deep…” “I give you myself, my 33 ferrets, my student loan and credit card debt…” “I know I’m gonna burn in hell, so I’m not scared at all of burning here on earth.” “Do you wanna go to a date with me?” I’m not saying everyone will find something in this movie amusing, but the teenage boy in most of us will grow breathless with amusement.

Content

This is one of the most sex-minded movies you’ll ever see, so jokes about sex and private parts abound. There’s a fair amount of regular profanity as well, including PG-13’s one allotted F-word. As was the case in the previous movie, a character does lose a hand at one point (though it’s admittedly used humorously, and isn’t exactly gory) and there’s a splash of blood in some footage involving a shark tearing into fish out at sea. Also, if there’s anyone who can manage to fully enjoy the scene in which Ron’s boss tries to seduce him by pinning him to the wall and yelling at him to bark like a dog and meow like a kitten, they certainly have a different sense of humor than me.

Bottom Line

Like most of Will Ferrell’s comedies, it’s more than a little stupid. In fact, it’s a lot stupid. But if you can manage to not look for anything redeeming and just enjoy the ride, Anchorman 2 will make you laugh. And you’ll probably enjoy quoting it with your friends at some time in the future. From what I can tell, that’s the whole point.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

Directed by Adam McKay

Written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay

Rated PG-13

Length: 119 minutes