Review of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

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Anchorman
by Peter Allen on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 11:54pm ·

This is the greatest comedy ever made, and if you dont agree with me...i will fight you!



Made in 2004, Anchorman is Will Ferrells seriuos attempt to show how sexism barriers were eventually broken down in the largely male dominated workplace, in this instance,the world of the tv newsroom.

it carefully deconstructs the macho posturing of self important,preening mysoginists and their neanderthal views of womans place in the world. in plain english, this is a movie about diversity in the workplace. diversity of course, being an old,old wooden ship used in the ciil war era...



lets be truthful, Anchorman is in fact none of the above. what it is,is genius writing coupled with some of the best improv actors in the business which provides 91minutes of pure comedic gold every step of the way. Every scene provides a laugh,every line spoken with such absurd sincerity.



i have lost count of how many times i have quoted this movie in my actual life,whether it be paraphrasing `Fuck you san diego`, telling anyone who will listen that `milk was a bad choice` or just thinking how much `i love lamp`.the movie is an endless stream of quotable lines.



the performances are the gold standard which all comedy should aspire to. Paul Rudd stepped into the limelight after years of excellent support turns and made hollywood sit up and take notice as brian fantana, a reporter so obsessed with how he looks that he even names his testes.



Steve Carell as Brick is a revelation.this coming after his performance as,coincidentally,an anchorman in Bruce Almighty quickly established him as the rising star of american comedy.



David Koechner as Champ Kind delivers a WHAMMY!! of a performance.it could so easily have been a one note role,yet he plays it to perfection.his reaction to rons blossoming romance with veronica,while funny as hell and extraordinarily gay...is also heartbreaking.



Christina Applegate brings real class to the role of Veronica Corningstone. she never yields to the putdowns which her character initially endures and shows herself to be a comedienne of real quality, culminating in a truly hilarious tit for tat bitchfight with ron as the news credits are rolling.



lastly, we have Wil Ferrell.His performance is timeless. if there was any justice, the oscar would have come his way. this may not be typical oscar fare but at some point,hopefully the academy will realize the skill that goes into a performance of this magnitude. His Ron Burgundy is a grotesque yet spectacular creation. Ferrell plays it completely straight and delivers the finest comedy performance ive ever seen. note perfect in every moment he is on screen.this is the perfect alchemy of actor and role.



i cant speak highly enough of this movie.it is without doubt a classic and one of the few movies which gets better and better with each viewing. 60% of the time it works everytime!