Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy - Review
Directed by: Adam McKay
Written by: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay
Cast: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, Vince Vaughn, Chris Parnell, Fred Willard
2004


by Muchacha Genia
www.maskedmoviesnobs.com

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, is an obvious reference to "Pornstar: The Legend of Ron Jeremy". Set in the 1970's at a San Diego news station, the male-dominated plot was a riot. I found this movie to be incredibly funny and incomparable to Ferrell's previous juvenile comedies. It has your typical Will Ferrell humor; which can be completely childish at times, but overall, the movie kept my interest and kept me laughing---two very difficult tasks when it comes to comedy. My humor can be quite dark and goofy, so, finding a comedy that I truly enjoy is sometimes a toilsome effort.

The supporting characters in this film are a huge hit (possibly a bigger hit than Farrell himself.) The news crew or "entourage" that surrounds "Ron Burgundy" (Will Ferrell) are laugh out loud funny. Paul Rudd (The Cider House Rules and Clueless) plays "Brian Fantana", your classic 70's egotistical male---> sleazy, cheesy, and bearing absolutely no clue about women, or much of anything for that matter. Though, he was by far my favorite character in the movie.

With lines like "[referring to cologne] It's called Sex Panther; it's illegal in nine countries. It's made from little pieces of real panther, so you know it's good." and "I won't be able to make it fellas. Veronica and I are trying this new fad called, uh, "jogging". I believe it's "Jogging" or "Yogging". It might be pronounced with a soft "J". I'm not sure, but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It's supposed to be wild!", you'd have to be a real stiff not to enjoy this little gem of a film. Ferrell's scene in the night club is also worth mentioning. He plays the jazz flute in the style of Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) and suddenly mutters the word "Aqualung" at the end of the song; which made me belt out a quick laugh. I also found the sex scene a.k.a. "Pleasure Town" to be quite clever---the way Ferrell blurts out "I friggin' love you" was beautifully funny.

Vince Vaughn (Swingers) plays "Wes Mantooth", a rival anchor who happens to show up at odd times with his own news team entourage, looking for "rumbles" with Burgundy and his crew. The fight scene between the competing news stations was highly funny, as well. I was almost compelled to rewind the scene so that I could get one more laugh. The film has killer performances; many of which are cameos. The fight scene I mentioned above has a cameo with Tim Robbins (Bull Durham) and let me tell you---the scene is absolutely berserk! I loved it. There is another fantastic cameo in that very same scene, but I won't give it away because the surprise of it is what adds to the comical moment.

Christina Applegate (Married With Children's "Kelly Bundy") also deserves recognition. She played her character exceptionally well as the ambitious, sexually-harassed woman in the 1970's, who is determined to make it to the top.

Great cast, great cameos from some of my favorites, and very well written and performed lines.

A great movie to own.

B+