wusmmik
01-15-2006, 03:11 AM
Anchorman:The Legend of Ron Burgundy Will Ferrell (also co-wr.), Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell; dir. Adam McKay (also co-wr)
All this talk about the "Brat Pack" designation and comedy, led me to decide at this late hour to briefly review one of my current favorite repeat viewings.
While Anchorman is probably too silly and lacks the plot structure and character development of both "Wedding Crashers" and "The 40 Year-Old Virgin", I've found that watching it in 30 minute segments makes it a brilliant film.
Look if you watched enough SNL in your life, you know that those writers (McKay was a former head writer there) write some funny, funny sketches with hilarious dialogue and goofy stuff-but many have no real endings. The great SNL writers of late Robert Smigel and Jack Handey were famous for spinning an original concept into a sketch and then tacking on a non-sequitur ending just to get it over with.
"Anchorman" is in the same spirit. It's pound for pound the most laughs you can get without cracking a tank of nitrous oxide in your house. When the movie hits, it puts it over the fence. The Channel 4 News Team are brilliant, the actors get everything right developing cartoonish personalities and camaradarie. The jokes fly by fast and furious as Will Ferrell turns his Robert Goulet impersonation into a full character of the prideful but dumb Ron Burgundy. The nuggets that he spits out during the movie are all quote-worthy, and he does it with that big, resonant voice that will remind you of the great Ted Knight from Mary Tyler Moore.
Christina Applegate plays the love interest/nemesis/femme fatale of Veronica Corningstone (a/k/a Jessica Savitch, whose TV documentary inspired this film) with real panache. We know that she has great comic timing, but in this silly role she allows herself to play off of other people especially Ferrell. The newsteam is awesome, Paul Rudd is his usual perfect supporting role; David Koechner is the jocular jock and Steve Carell is lovably dumb. Along the way, you see all kinds of people you know as the story while thin develops. But when the movie tumbles a little, the jokes bring it right back. One moment for the hall of fame, I'm sure that 20 years from now the battle of the bellicose news teams will be in the same comedic highlight reel as Bill Murray golfing the flowers away at Bushwood, John Belushi's mouth bursting all over preppies and more. Anchorman follows in that tradition to the tee.
The direction by Adam McKay is good, he knows to let his actors improv and can balance sight gags and quick edits well. In the wake of the Samberg/Parnell "Lazy Sunday" digital short, I'm hoping they'll go back and show some of his and Ferrell's shorts especially the one where Ferrell shows a baby a battleship. Someone should have been awarded for the production design, because the sets, clothes, hair, everything look fresh out of a 1973 TV show.
So, fire up the DVD and watch it in parts and pieces. Once you come into the movie in a few different places, you'll notice things you didn't notice before and you'll laugh at things you missed because you were chuckling at such gold as "I love lamp" or "I'm in a glass case of emotion". There are countless quotable lines in this one, have fun making up your own list and remember "to stay classy."
*by the way, I realized the other night that I had seen the movie so many times on HBO that with the sound down I could practically quote the entire movie..so, maybe don't take your repeat viewing that far. Switch it out with "Raising Arizona" or "Meet The Parents" or "Blazing Saddles". Or maybe "The Best of Will Ferrell Vol.2"...you know the late night stuff, the weird sketches that really grow on you.
All this talk about the "Brat Pack" designation and comedy, led me to decide at this late hour to briefly review one of my current favorite repeat viewings.
While Anchorman is probably too silly and lacks the plot structure and character development of both "Wedding Crashers" and "The 40 Year-Old Virgin", I've found that watching it in 30 minute segments makes it a brilliant film.
Look if you watched enough SNL in your life, you know that those writers (McKay was a former head writer there) write some funny, funny sketches with hilarious dialogue and goofy stuff-but many have no real endings. The great SNL writers of late Robert Smigel and Jack Handey were famous for spinning an original concept into a sketch and then tacking on a non-sequitur ending just to get it over with.
"Anchorman" is in the same spirit. It's pound for pound the most laughs you can get without cracking a tank of nitrous oxide in your house. When the movie hits, it puts it over the fence. The Channel 4 News Team are brilliant, the actors get everything right developing cartoonish personalities and camaradarie. The jokes fly by fast and furious as Will Ferrell turns his Robert Goulet impersonation into a full character of the prideful but dumb Ron Burgundy. The nuggets that he spits out during the movie are all quote-worthy, and he does it with that big, resonant voice that will remind you of the great Ted Knight from Mary Tyler Moore.
Christina Applegate plays the love interest/nemesis/femme fatale of Veronica Corningstone (a/k/a Jessica Savitch, whose TV documentary inspired this film) with real panache. We know that she has great comic timing, but in this silly role she allows herself to play off of other people especially Ferrell. The newsteam is awesome, Paul Rudd is his usual perfect supporting role; David Koechner is the jocular jock and Steve Carell is lovably dumb. Along the way, you see all kinds of people you know as the story while thin develops. But when the movie tumbles a little, the jokes bring it right back. One moment for the hall of fame, I'm sure that 20 years from now the battle of the bellicose news teams will be in the same comedic highlight reel as Bill Murray golfing the flowers away at Bushwood, John Belushi's mouth bursting all over preppies and more. Anchorman follows in that tradition to the tee.
The direction by Adam McKay is good, he knows to let his actors improv and can balance sight gags and quick edits well. In the wake of the Samberg/Parnell "Lazy Sunday" digital short, I'm hoping they'll go back and show some of his and Ferrell's shorts especially the one where Ferrell shows a baby a battleship. Someone should have been awarded for the production design, because the sets, clothes, hair, everything look fresh out of a 1973 TV show.
So, fire up the DVD and watch it in parts and pieces. Once you come into the movie in a few different places, you'll notice things you didn't notice before and you'll laugh at things you missed because you were chuckling at such gold as "I love lamp" or "I'm in a glass case of emotion". There are countless quotable lines in this one, have fun making up your own list and remember "to stay classy."
*by the way, I realized the other night that I had seen the movie so many times on HBO that with the sound down I could practically quote the entire movie..so, maybe don't take your repeat viewing that far. Switch it out with "Raising Arizona" or "Meet The Parents" or "Blazing Saddles". Or maybe "The Best of Will Ferrell Vol.2"...you know the late night stuff, the weird sketches that really grow on you.