FILM REVIEW - ANCHORMAN The legend of Ron Burgundy
Cert: 15
Starring: Will Ferrell
As far as I can remember, there haven’t ever been any comedies based around newsreader. Bringing word of wars and natural disasters isn’t usually all that japesome. However, local news is different: see Granada’s Paul Crone, for example.
“ANCHORMAN”, the recent film from the “new
school” of American comedy, attempts to make us laugh ourselves stupid with the take of Ron Burgundy, “anchor” of a local San Diego news show in the 1970s who has the city at his feet and the love and respect of his peers and viewers… until Veronica Corningstone, a gutsy and beautiful female anchor struts into the studio. While his colleagues are appalled at the idea of a female achor (reporter Brian Fantana remarking “it is anchorman, not anchorLADY!”), Ron is lovestruct and attempts to begin his courtship of Ms. Corningstone.
Eventually he is successful, but at the expense of his career (his final hours coming when he reads out “Go fuck yourself, San Diego” from the Teleprompter, outraging the city). After a humiliating fall from grace complete with a “Lost Weekend” to make John Lennon weep, he is called back to report on the birth of a panda at San Diego zoo. All ends happy and, he and Veronica achieve their career dreams of becoming network anchors.
Unfortunately, the audience don’t get that happy a conclusion. It’s not that “Anchorman” is a bad film, it’s that it just seem to be a bunch of sketches tacked together that often make no sense (for example, the scene where Ron and Veronica consummate their relationship, or where Ron and his co-workers Brian Fontana part-time reporter, full time Casanova).
Champ Kind (loud, brash sports anchor) and Brick Tomland (the weatherman who’s a few drops short of a storm) begin singing “Afternoon Delight” for no reason whatsoever. There are a few standout scenes which are actually hilarious: Jack Black’s comes as a disgruntled biker and the inner-city brawl between the rival news channels’ anchors’ but for a film with Will Ferrel billed as the star, it’s strange that Steve Corell (as Tomland) should get most of the laughs. Make no mistake, the lines you’ll be quoting to your mates will all be Tomland’s (I’ll give you these two as a heads-up: “LOUD NOISES!” and “ I DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE YELLING ABOUT”)
Essentially, “Anchorman” is a dumb idea pulled off poorly, and with the exception of a few lines by Ferrel’s co-stars, the film is cringeworthy in the wrong way (for the right way, see “Fawlty Towers”). The comparison of 70’s newsreaders to 70s rock stars in terms of excess and misogyny is amusing, but one good idea and a few quotable lines do not a must-see film make.
** and a half!
Author: Gregg Mather
“ANCHORMAN”, the recent film from the “new
school” of American comedy, attempts to make us laugh ourselves stupid with the take of Ron Burgundy, “anchor” of a local San Diego news show in the 1970s who has the city at his feet and the love and respect of his peers and viewers… until Veronica Corningstone, a gutsy and beautiful female anchor struts into the studio. While his colleagues are appalled at the idea of a female achor (reporter Brian Fantana remarking “it is anchorman, not anchorLADY!”), Ron is lovestruct and attempts to begin his courtship of Ms. Corningstone.Eventually he is successful, but at the expense of his career (his final hours coming when he reads out “Go fuck yourself, San Diego” from the Teleprompter, outraging the city). After a humiliating fall from grace complete with a “Lost Weekend” to make John Lennon weep, he is called back to report on the birth of a panda at San Diego zoo. All ends happy and, he and Veronica achieve their career dreams of becoming network anchors.
Unfortunately, the audience don’t get that happy a conclusion. It’s not that “Anchorman” is a bad film, it’s that it just seem to be a bunch of sketches tacked together that often make no sense (for example, the scene where Ron and Veronica consummate their relationship, or where Ron and his co-workers Brian Fontana part-time reporter, full time Casanova).
Champ Kind (loud, brash sports anchor) and Brick Tomland (the weatherman who’s a few drops short of a storm) begin singing “Afternoon Delight” for no reason whatsoever. There are a few standout scenes which are actually hilarious: Jack Black’s comes as a disgruntled biker and the inner-city brawl between the rival news channels’ anchors’ but for a film with Will Ferrel billed as the star, it’s strange that Steve Corell (as Tomland) should get most of the laughs. Make no mistake, the lines you’ll be quoting to your mates will all be Tomland’s (I’ll give you these two as a heads-up: “LOUD NOISES!” and “ I DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE YELLING ABOUT”)
Essentially, “Anchorman” is a dumb idea pulled off poorly, and with the exception of a few lines by Ferrel’s co-stars, the film is cringeworthy in the wrong way (for the right way, see “Fawlty Towers”). The comparison of 70’s newsreaders to 70s rock stars in terms of excess and misogyny is amusing, but one good idea and a few quotable lines do not a must-see film make.
** and a half!
Author: Gregg Mather
Manchester iJourno group
posted by iJourno at 10:06 am
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