It was a time of heroes, a time when men we're men and women had 'tiny little brains' Ron Burgundy was the man who brought you the news, a mans man, mans mans man, and a ladies man.
In fact
There was a time before cable, a time when people believed everything they heard on TV. This was an age when only men were allowed to read the news. It was an age when the local anchorman reigned supreme. In San Diego one man was more man then the rest. His name was Ron Burgundy. He was like a God walking amongst mere mortals. He had a voice that could make a wolverine purr and suits so fine they made Sinatra look like a hobo. In other words,
Ron Burgundy, was the balls!
Will Ferrell (Elf, Old School, Zoolander) plays the amazing Ron Burgundy, king of San Diego news. He and his news team, Brian Fantana, man on the streets and all round ladies man, Champ Kind, Sports reporter and Brick Tamland, weatherman with an IQ of 48, can do no wrong. The team constantly top the ratings and life is good.
But times are changing and the arrival of Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate, Married With Children)
at the news station causes all kinds of trouble with he gang. There?s no place for a woman in the newsroom and as much as the crew love the ladies 'they really rev their engines!' Its anchorMAN, not anchorLADY.
Ron however is enchanted by Veronica and after a brief date, and some jazz flute (you'll understand if you see it) he's storming her castle and love has bloomed.
But things never run smoothly in the world of cable news and Veronicas life long dream to become a network anchor, that once amuse Ron so much he wrote it in his diary and laughed at it later, eventually drives a wedge between the lovers when, after a tragedy involving Jack Black and Rons Dog!, Veronica stands in for Ron as lead anchor.
And so the battle lines are drawn but as i said, times are changing, and women?s brains are getting bigger. There can only be one winner in this war and Ron falls from his throne and must redeem himself.
I could say that Anchorman - The legend Of Ron Burgundy, is a tightly scripted political thriller that lifts the lid on male chauvinism in the 1970's i could say that i like to fight wasps but both would be lies my dear readers. Anchorman is a superb comedy that lampoons and spoofs its way through its ninety minutes of non stop hilarity. Witness Rons warm ups to the evening broadcast (all improvised on set) sing along to Rons description of Love to the acapella strains of Afternoon Delight. cringe at Brian Fontana 'musking up' with Sex Panther and attempting to woo the lovely Veronica, shame that sex panther smells 'like bigfoots dick!!' Laugh, cry throw up then dance whilst watching the amazing Brick Tamland as he declares his love to a lamp, kills a man with a trident (in an amazing cameo filled face off with rival news teams) and confesses to eating a big red candle. Cringe slightly at the underdeveloped role of the sports reporter and please, please cover the sofa with plastic to protect it from an evacuated bladder as Ron enters 'the glass case of emotion'.
I know that none of this will mean anything to those who haven?t seen the film but quite frankly, if you haven?t seen this film I don?t want to know you, GET OUT, GET OUT NOW YOU DIRTY PIRATE WHORES.
The rest of you can revel in the pure barminess of it all. Ferrell and his gang are truly comedy geniuses, which is apparent from the way that the best moments were improvised. Performances in these kinds of movies rarely bring on bouts of tears but on my first viewing I literally was crying with laughter and surprise. Ferrel just manages to keep Steve Carell (Brick) from stealing the whole thing, Carell stole Bruce Almighty from Jim Carrey in the only funny scene and is playing the David Brent character in the US adaptaion of the Office. Special mention has to go to Burgundys 'wise' dog Baxter, so much laughter comes from their interaction (including the films best scene in my opinion)
Some will hate it, my advice is if you meet any of these so called 'people' you should spit at them and force them to clean your face others will love it, they should be given vast amounts of money and pleasured in the streets where they stand. Its an ideal movie for anyone with eyes and a tongue.
Interestingly if you pick this up on dvd (walk past the inferior dodgeball and pick this mama up, it always goes down smooth) you may see a trailer with all kinds of scenes that aren?t in the film. These scenes didn?t make the cut and were edited into a 'sequel' called 'Wake Up Ron Burgundy' unfortunately this is only available on US dvd (region 1) I had hoped it would show up on these shores but have had to import it (should arrive later this week)
I'm promised more zany excitement, but for the mean time I?ll be watching Anchorman repeatedly and drinking scotch
I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Down it goes, into my belly..
You stay classy!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Tony Dow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: John Challis, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tessa Peake-Jones, Gwyneth Strong
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
This is my favourite film evaar !! Great review :]
SurveyMasterNico 06.04.2005 12:03
I'll give you a "helpful" because I think your grammar/punctuation leaves a little to be desired, but that's constructive criticism, don't take offense.
Feb 4th, 2005
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (93%):
helpful by (5%):
