Stupid, brainless laughs. It’s all I was expecting or hoping for out of Anchorman, and I’m pleased to say it delivered just that‚Ķ but nothing more. But as I mentioned in a previous post, you really can’t anticipate anything else out of a Will Ferrell film.
The one element that stands out from the other Ferrell films is the supporting cast. They were fantastic. Ferrell’s news team, a sports guy, beat reported and Weather man were every bit as funny as Ferrell himself (especially the Weather man, played by Steven Carell, who was hilarious in Bruce Almighty as the other Anchorman)
One of my favorite scenes was a street rumble between 5 competing news teams. The confrontation is so ridiculous and splashed with such wonderful cameos that I had a permanent grin on my face for the entire duration of the scene. You can just tell that all these guys were having a blast making the movie, which added to the enjoyment of watching it.
Now, before you start to think I’m about to hand this movie an Oscar, there are a number of down sides. The film’s strength (being stupid brainless laughs) is also its weakness. Some things in the movie were very stupid FUNNY‚Ķ but other gags were just stupid STUPID. Ferrell is a master at rolling the dice and taking some risks with his comedy, and many times it pays off with big laughs‚Ķ but sometimes it goes the other way and just comes across as dumb. Also, while I believe Christina Applegate is underrated as an actress and deserves a place in movies, she just didn’t fit in with this group of characters and it was painfully obvious the entire film.
Overall, Anchorman is fun, funny and a good evening of light entertainment. Better than Elf, but not quite as good as Old School (although it had more laughs). It’s worth seeing (heck, I’ll probably see it twice). I give Anchorman a 7/10.
