Film Review: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Dir. Adam McKay
Paramount Pictures
3.5/5 stars

Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) and his ragtag reporting team return for another shot at stardom in a new decade, in all their checkered suit glory, in “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.” Co-anchor Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) is happily photographing inspirational cats. Sports anchor Champ Kind (David Koechner) has found his place serving chicken-like food to unsuspecting customers. Weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) is lost at sea. But after his wife and co-anchor, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), is promoted, Ron is in a darker place than a glass cage of emotions: Sea World.

After a cry for help, Ron gets the gang back together to work for a new all-news 24-hour network in New York City, a long way from San Diego. It’s crazy! It’s bound to fail! There can’t be that much news to cover ethically! Maybe that’s true, but the reunited news team is sure good at telling a new kind of news—nay, an American kind of news. “Anchorman 2" does a fair job of satirizing what television deems “newsworthy”: cute animals, car chases, graphics, graphics and more graphics.

Additionally, a fantastic slew of guest stars weaves in and out of the movie (from James Marsden as suave Jack Lime to Harrison Ford as an overly touchy-feely network boss), culminating, as I’m sure you could have guessed, in a multi-network fight to the death.

The cast obviously enjoyed getting back together; it’s as much a reunion for them as it is for their characters. The actors play off of each other brilliantly in scenes where they are all together. I’ll spoil one nonsensical improvised line, and one only: “By Gene Rayburn’s bedpan!” Unfortunately, however, it’s not quite as fun to watch as it was to star. Yes, “Anchorman 2" is funny. In fact, it has moments of pure hilarity, but it fails to recapture the magic that the first film had.

The smallest moments are the most creative and fresh: awkward cuts mid-laughter, one-liners Ron throws at his son about what it means to “be a man” (or a Lace Man) and a STYNCLSY license plate on Ron’s Winnebago, to name a few. On the other hand, drawn-out scenes are more weird than funny. The humor comes once they’ve gone on for so long that there’s nothing left to do but laugh at how strange they are (hint: they bottle-feed a shark).

The whole movie is like a two-hour Will Ferrell Greatest Hits album. It pulls a little from “Blades of Glory,” remixes jokes from “Talladega Nights” and recycles nearly every part of “Anchorman” for good measure. I laughed through the entirety of “Anchorman 2" both times that I saw it, but the film is just past its expiration date. Maybe 10 years is too long to wait for a sequel. This is the epilogue to “Anchorman,” and fans would do themselves a disservice not to see it. That said, it is still a film that can stand on its own. It’s not an exemplary comedy by any means, and it won’t spur demand for a third “Anchorman,” but the movie still ranks highly in the Ferrell canon. And don’t worry—Baxter’s still around to save the day.