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Film
'Anchorman' is bad news
Will Ferrell, who had been riding a wave of success, comes up short in a film hardly worthy of broadcast.
By STEVE PERSALL
Published July 8, 2004
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[Photo: DreamWorks Pictures]
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| Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) has no intention of sharing the anchor desk with anyone, let alone Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate).
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Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy plays out like those Saturday Night Live sketches that fill the last 10 minutes of the show. Even if the rest of the program is funny, the last sketch flopping is practically a tradition. It could be an unfulfilled good idea or one that was bad to begin with, but it's usually safe - and smart - to turn off the TV at 12:50 a.m.
Former SNL star Will Ferrell should recognize such lame material, although co-writing it can be his excuse for clouded perception. Ferrell was due for overestimating himself after Elf and Old School shoved him into Mike Myers' and Adam Sandler's range of bankable goofs. But who thought he would devolve into Rob Schneider overnight?
Anchorman falls into the unfulfilled idea category, with Ferrell playing Ron Burgundy, an egocentric San Diego television news icon in the 1970s when only men explained the day's events on-air. Opportunities abound for spoofing the era, as Austin Powers did so memorably. Yet aside from polyester costuming and a soundtrack composed of oldies radio hits, Anchorman isn't ambitiously nostalgic. The news Ron reports is timeless - panda bears mating and a dog mauling - so satire is nonexistent except for a feminist subplot without much bite.
Ron's reign as San Diego's most trusted stud is threatened when Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) joins the all-chauvinist news team. We get lame scenes of sexual harassment and stilted protests, soon forgotten when Ron and Veronica fall in love. Then there's the on-air f-bomb and an animal cruelty gag causing Veronica's ascension to the anchor chair and Ron's descent to a bum. Director Adam McKay resolves everything with one of the lowest laughs-per-minute ratios I've known in a supposedly madcap comedy. After the first 10 minutes the movie sinks like, well, like an anchor.
A few funny moments emerge: a gang rumble among TV news teams with cool celebrity cameos, a few of Ferrell's dimwitticisms and anything Steve Carell (The Daily Show) does portraying severely mentally deficient weatherman Brick Tamland. Mostly there's desperation (Ron's absurd erection while talking to Veronica, an a capella rendition of Afternoon Delight) and sheer worthlessness, as in McKay's flight of animated fancy when the co-anchors have sex.
McKay's jabs at TV news have no relevance and his pacing is dictated by the improvisational whims of his cast. We'll trust that he left worse takes on the editing room floor. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy won't make anyone watch television differently, but it makes the movie screen seem a lot smaller.
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
GRADE: D
DIRECTOR: Adam McKay
CAST: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, Fred Willard, Vince Vaughn
SCREENPLAY: Will Ferrell, Adam McKay
RATING: PG-13; sexual situations, profanity, brief violence
RUNNING TIME: 94 min.
[Last modified July 7, 2004, 10:51:33]
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