Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
In 1970s San Diego, no San Diegan goes without the news. And the most-watched news comes from none other than Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) and his team (David Koechner, Paul Rudd, and Steve Carell). The four have certainly enjoyed this all-male society, taking advantage of the parties, the drinking, and the women. But time is catching up to them. Hailing from the east is Veronica (Christina Applegate) with her dreams of becoming an anchor herself. The team, especially Ron, have their doubts about her, looking at her as another woman to hit on, something Ron succeeds in doing. But a freak incident involving Ron’s dog sends his career on a downward spiral while Veronica’s skyrockets. Eventually, everyone seems to adjust to Veronica’s style while Ron hits rock-bottom. Will he ever recover?

There is no doubt that without Ferrell, this film is a dud. It is his lunacy and over-the-top psychotic style that gives the film, a skit stretched to 95 minutes, enough laughs to make it through the whole thing. That’s not to say the rest of the cast wasn’t good. Carell is the stand-out performer as the dim-witted weatherman and the cameos from the usual suspects like Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Vince Vaughn spice things up. However, various gags are dead on arrival or overstay their welcome. A couple of scenes were met with dead silence from the audience. It puts a damper on a comedy that’s a few jokes short of greatness. To its credit though, Ron Burgundy has spawned a wealth of promotional material that’s even funnier than the film itself including the actors’ news conference and the two skits in the MTV Movie Awards. 2.5 stars