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ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY Send This Review to a Friend
You have to like very broad comedy to fully enjoy “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” but even if you cringe at slapstick, there are abundant laughs to be had in this satire of newsrooms, anchormen, rivalries and male resistance to a woman getting an anchor slot in the 1970s. This is hardly an intellectual approach to comedy. Will Ferrell plays Ron Burundy as an ego-inflated buffoon, with buddies to match. Christina Applegate is closest to reality as the ambitious new reporter Veronica Corningstone, who hungers for important stories and an anchor position while the only position the guys see for her is in bed.
Director and co-screenwriter (with Ferrell) Adam McKay has made the sort of film in which rival newsmen in San Diego fight it out in the streets like gangs, heavily armed with an assortment of weapons. One TV newsman gets an arm sliced off in the rumble. You get the picture. There is thankfully more subtle humor on occasion; telling an anchorman he has bad hair is the worst insult one can deliver. Also, Burgundy is the sort of bloke who will read anything on the teleprompter by rote. When there’s a question mark at the end of his sign-off name, he inflects it accordingly as “This is Ron Burgundy?” There’s worse to come when he is sabotaged on the teleprompter and tells San Diego what it can do to itself.
One clever moment occurs when Ron and Veronica are trapped in a bear pit at the zoo, and Ron’s dog, previously presumed dead, suddenly appears and faces off a huge bear. The dog’s barking and the bear’s grunts are wittily subtitled into negotiations that save the day. Applegate is quite appealing as she navigates between succumbing to Ron’s supposed charms and staking out her broadcasting territory with tenaciousness.
The supporting cast includes Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, Fred Willard and Chris Parnell. The acting is almost always over-the-top in keeping with the tone of the comedy, and there are added silly outtakes when the final credits roll. A DreamWorks Pictures release.
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