"60% of the time, it works every time."
plot: In the 1970s, San Diego anchorman Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) rules the roost, until an ambitious female reporter Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) is hired as his co-anchor. Hilarity ensues.
Okay, that sounded like I hated this movie. But I didn't. In fact, I was an early adopter who saw this in the theatres.
When Will Ferrell was on Saturday Night Live, I was not a fan. At all. He seemed to corner the market on incredibly annoying characters that served to satisfy the crazy demands and desires of his co-stars. "Cheri Oteri wants to be a cheerleader? Sure. We'll do that sketch once an episode for three entire years." "Oh, Ana Gasteyer is a frustrated singer? Will, go up there and play a funny singing guy with her." Only occasionally was he allowed to break free and do something odd, like random impressions of Robert Goulet and Harry Carey, or that prospector skit that never even made it on air. One thing I did notice, though, was towards the end of his run he started doing these weird little movies with Adam McKay. I remember one involved a pawn shop for food, and another had a stroller and a bag of chips.
When it was announced that their first big collaboration would be a period comedy entitled Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, I was excited. First of all, the mock pomposity of the title was funny, and reminded me of my friend's short The Story of Sam Jameson featuring the Legend of George the Clown. Plus, it just sounded like a good idea. The 1970s were an interesting time, the local news industry is an interesting subject ripe for parody, I just had a feeling that this would be worth seeing in the theaters.
Little was I to know just how big this movie would blow up. Because of this movie, Steve Carrell and Judd Apatow got the green light to go ahead and do The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which helped introduce Seth Rogen who starred in Knocked Up and wrote Superbad. Paul Rudd became a more viable name and went on to star in I Love You, Man. The success of this, coming off the heels of Old School helped solidify the comedy empire built on the "Frat Pack": Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Jack Black, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell. All but Owen at least cameo in this.
Interestingly, the humor in this is a bit more "silly" and absurd than the other Frat Pack films. The events found in movies like Role Models and Forgetting Sarah Marshall are unlikely, but plausible. The stuff found here frequently goes into Zucker mode where surreality creeps into the picture.
The movie is almost review-proof, because of how large it looms now. This might go down, however unlikely it might have been thought at the time, as one of the defining comedies of the '00s. Everyone from your parents to the frat house to the hipsters that disdain said house loves this movie unironically. It really has captured something in the psyche, and when the careers of Judd Apatow and Will Ferrell and Steve Carrell fade, as is inevitable, Anchorman will still be clutched to the bosom of the classy Planet Earth.
Stay classy, cast of Anchorman. Stay classy.
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