Hey guys! I know that I haven’t done a review in a while – mostly because I’ve been working on my independent film of EPIC proportions! – but I’ve taken a little time to write a small review to remind you that I haven’t forgotten about the site. Anyway, it’s good to be back.
To spark my resurgence, I’m doing something we haven’t done in a while and reviewing an older movie. Well, it’s technically because the sequel is coming out next year, but you can sustain your nostalgia.
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is a comedy that was released in mid 2004. The movie has some big comedy names in its cast, such as Will Ferrell, Steve Carrel, and cameo appearances from Jack Black and Ben Stiller. But did it succeed at entertaining a general audience?
It’s the 1970s, and Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) is the lead anchorman for the Channel 4 San Diego news. He does his job well, and the people love him. But when Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), an up-and-coming female anchor who is dead set on Ron’s job comes on the scene, it’s a love/hate relationship between the two. How delightfully ironic – now critics have a love/hate relationship with this film.
I have to admit, it’s an interesting take on a romantic comedy, having a sexist as the lead. The idea was used in a creative way and that was something that gave a spin to the whole film. It was a childish feud among adults.
And yet a prospect does not make a movie. You need to use the prospect correctly for that. And while it had funny ideas, it held the burden of a single flaw: It tried too hard.
There are two overall views on comedy. There are slapstick comedies, which use random jokes and changes in behavior to make us laugh, and there are the other comedies which use a clever story which has jokes along the way. Basically, it’s the difference between jokes with story and story with jokes. Both of these kinds of films can be good – I cite Airplane as a fine example – but it’s when you mix the two too much that we get a problem.
Anchorman attempts to hold a solid plot with continuing events together while introducing completely spontaneous elements to the picture. This is where the word “corny” comes from. It’s a disaster! The concept was good, but the movie itself didn’t do it justice.
Age Recommendation: Not a good film for children, boasting an “R” rating. One of the leads is a gigantic pervert (He played “Todd Packer” in The Office) and another is stupid, which would be okay had they not actually called him mentally retarded during the film, which changes it from “Silly Brick” to “That poor Brick”.
Final Verdict: Okay, but not okay enough. 4/10
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