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| 7/15/2004 |
| Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy |
by Wes Bennett
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Will Ferrell began his career on “Saturday Night Live” back in 1995. Originally, I never thought he was that good. His characters in the sketches “Craig the Cheerleader”, “Morning Latte”, and “Musical music teacher Marty Culp” were kind of dumb, mediocre at very best. Even “A Night At the Roxbury,” a film he wrote and starred in was pretty lame.
But something happened in the year 2000. It all started with Ferrell’s mockery of George W. Bush. Then all of the sudden, he seemed to have dead on impressions of Alex Trebek, Haray Caray and James Lipton that were brilliant. Not only that, Ferrell was by far the funniest part of movies such as “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and “Zoolander.”
Ferrell didn’t get his breakout role until he left SNL and co starred in the now classic “Old School” as Frank the Tank. There is little question that the tranquilizer scene will always deserve a prominent place in the comedy hall of fame.
But even after the kid’s film “Elf,” I wondered if perhaps Ferrell was better suited to be a character actor, playing smaller, bizarre roles, than as a leading man. But all my doubts were quickly put to rest upon viewing “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” It is one of those instant classics that had me snickering from start to finish. Ferrell has secured his place in history. If he died tomorrow, “Old School” and “Anchorman” would be enough to guarantee him comic immortality.
Ferrell stars as pompous 1970’s San Diego news anchor Ron Burgundy who rules over the newsroom and his award-winning but equally slow Channel 4 “news team.” His gang includes a cowboy-hatted, sportscaster, Champ Kind (David Koechner), a mentally challenged weatherman, Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), and lusty, thickheaded field reporter, Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd).
Complications arise when the newsroom hires the sexy, ambitious Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). Her and Ron begin falling in love, at least until Veronica tries to share the spotlight with Burgundy and take his over his beloved anchorman chair which sets off a no-holds-barred battle for power.
This meager story is a mere skeleton on which screenwriters Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay hang a series of increasingly absurd set pieces that highlight the Ferrell’s amazing ability to play the most ridiculous situations with De Niro-like seriousness. The silliness is so extreme that the stupidity works in its favor, producing almost nonstop laughs along the way.
There are so many great moments in the film, but none are better than when an unhappy biker (Jack Black) punts Burgundy’s dog Baxter, off a bridge, causing an emotional break down in a phone booth. This is topped only by a a random back-alley rumble sequence in which all the cities’ news anchors and their news teams go at one another with all kinds of weapons in an over the top battle complete with numerous cameos, severed limbs and burning men.
Although Ferrell is clearly the MVP, Steve Carell as Brick the dim witted weatherman, nearly steals the show, consistently knocking out one-liners. Last year, Carell’s giberish-newsman bit in “Bruce Almighty” was probably the funniest part of that film.
Although all of the top comedians of the day including Jack Black, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, the Wilson Brothers and Will Ferrell, have combined forces and made appearances in each others films such as “Old School”, “Zoolander” and “Starsky and Hutch,” “Anchorman” is the first film to include all of the them at once. We can only hope that this amazing collaboration of talent will continue.
I believe that the next six to eight years of Ferrell’s career will bring us a number of classic films. Most comedians have a sense or vague understanding of humor, but Ferrell seems to have preternatural mastery of it. Truly, Ferrell has earned the title of the undisputed, world champion of comedy right now. That’s a long way from “Craig the Cheerleader.” |
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| "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it." |
- Jack Nicholson
A Few Good Men
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Distributed Beers
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| 5 |
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot |
| 4 |
Guinness Draught |
| 3 |
Newcastle Brown Ale |
| 2 |
Bass Pale Ale |
| 1 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager |
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