Two years ago, SNL regular Will Ferrell had a supporting role in a movie which launched his now flourishing career. The movie was the R-rated Old School which was surprisingly accepted by critics (well, not me) and the audiences ate it up. As a follow-up, he quit SNL and starred in the PG Elf which was again loved by critics and audiences (to the tune of over $100 million). With Anchorman, Ferrell has landed on the middle ground of PG-13 and delivered the funniest comedy of the year.
Surprising as it is to say, Anchorman is a period-piece which takes us back to the 1970’s when the local news teams were celebrated and admired. San Diego’s #1 news team is lead by one Ron Burgundy who is both sexist and dim-witted and yet lovable, and along with his news team of Brian Fantana (field reporter), Champ Kind (sports), and Brick Tamland (weather) are on top of the world. That is until feisty female anchor Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) walks into the channel 4 station. Against her better judgment, she is won-over by the wooing of Ron and the two begin dating. Things are going smoothly enough until Veronica fills in for a missing Ron as anchor. Veronica is extremely popular and is made co-anchor, and that is when all hell breaks loose.
Anchorman succeeds because it is the opposite of what I have come to except from big-budget comedies: Anchorman actually gets funnier as the movie goes on. So often a comedy will fizzle after a promising introduction, but this is not the case here. Anchorman starts out as very “meh,” with only a hand-full of semi-forced chuckles. But by minute 20, the laughs are coming fast and furious; several of which had me practically in stitches! The comedic landscape painted by Ferrell and co-writer/director Adam McKay is also one of the most entertaining premises that I have seen in a long time; Anchorman would make the perfect second-half of a double feature with the 1976 classic Network.
There is never any doubt that the star of the movie is Ferrell, yet the supporting cast is equally as luminous and often out-shines the star. Christina Applegate is wonderfully campy as Veronica, and Paul Rudd (Brian Fantana) and David Koechner (Champ Kind) are solid, as is Fred Willard as the station manager. As good as they are, one stands above the rest. Steve Carell (Brick Tamland) now has two notches on his bed post of comedy, as he has managed to out-do both Jim Carey (in Bruce Almighty) and now Will Ferrell.
There are numerous cameos in Anchorman, and they are all as hilarious as they are irreverent. For a straight-up comedy, there is no doubt that Anchorman is the best of the year thus far.
Grade: A-
© 2004 Jacob Sproul
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