Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Robbed of an Oscar nomination—Anchorman 2 deals with the snub by continuing to tickle funny bones worldwide. 

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. 2013. Rated PG-13 (though we really don’t know how???). 119 minutes. Starring Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, James Marsden, Kristen Wiig. Directed by Adam McKay.

With the 70s behind him, San Diego's top rated newsman, Ron Burgundy, returns to take New York's first 24-hour news channel by storm. [imdb] 

Nicole: I’ve waited long for this day…and I’m relieved to say the sequel to Anchorman did not disappoint. Phew! If you’re worried that this movie won’t be filled with the same brand of ridiculousness, the same flavor of sassy one-liners, the same tasteless and unPC gags – let me allay your fears: It’s just as wonderfully tacky and quotable as the first. 

elizabeth:  Once or twice year, I lower my standards so low that members of my family do not recognize me. I have done so twice and it is only January. I sat through Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy at home and then I had the good fortune to sit through Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues with you.  I have to say that I may never really feel clean again. Remind me why you liked it. I didn’t see any references to Mr. Darcy in this flick. 

Nicole: …because, Cassidy, I’m not ashamed to admit I like a good fart joke almost as much as I love a good period piece. I’m complicated. This time around, Ron and company have been offered a late-night gig on the nation’s first-ever 24-hour news station. To score big ratings, they decide to spin the news in a whole new way – by reporting salacious gossip, sex scandals and over-hyping non-newsworthy stories…you know, the way it’s done now. While the news team’s strategy gains ratings, it makes them enemies. 

elizabeth:  You like a “good” fart joke? You are dead to me or you are a 14-year-old boy. Pick one. I think I am a very funny person (my therapist  said I have to embrace my gifts – less chance of  getting restraining orders if I go about embracing strangers on the street)and I long for movies that will make me laugh out loud. I know there are very funny people out there who can write funny lines, but I don’t understand why they don’t get asked to write clever screenplays. Humor in this country is only for  teenage boys and you. Why are my comical rights being ignored? 

Nicole: Then I’m a 14-year-old boy, fine. I’ve been called worse. I’m gonna run the risk of toeing the line of your restraining order and say this: Not all comedy needs to be high-brow to be funny. (I defer you to the comical genius of Mel Brooks, and now run for cover.) The movie is a tad too long – it could have been shortened by a half hour and been made the better for it. Efforts to try to recapture similar scenes from the first movie don’t quite hit the mark, but there is still something redeemable about them.

elizabeth:  So, I suppose the campfire scene in “Blazing Saddles” is a fave of yours?  How nice. We agree about one thing. The movie was way too long. I think Will Ferrell wanted to get everything into the movie  and didn’t care if it left people going, “What the hell is going on?”  Sometimes less is bliss. I know no one is listening to me. And just for the record – clothes from the 1970s need to go to the polyester recycling bin in hell. Just revolting. 

Nicole: (I did hear you laugh on more than one occasion. Just sayin’. And I actually liked the Disco-era wardrobe. I’m revealing way too much about myself in this review.)This time around, Brick (Steve Carell) gets a fair amount of hilarious screen time and a love interest, the perfectly cast Kristen Wiig – who does uncomfortably weird so very well. You’ll be surprised and likely creeped-out by Brian’s (Rudd) and Champ’s (Koechner) post-San Diego Channel 4 News Team’s career choices and a little disappointed about where we find our favorite couple, Ron (Ferrell) and Veronica (Applegate). But…it all ends up working out. And the journey is one, long belly laugh of a good time. 

elizabeth: I was laughing to myself. I do that often. It keeps people away from me. It had nothing to do with Ron Burgundy and his entourage. Okay, full disclosure here – Steve Carell did a good job playing a man who isn’t quite wired like the rest of us. His childlike antics did propel a chuckle or two out of me. He was the only good part of this film. And that guy Champ made me very uncomfortable while Paul Rudd is still adorable in plaid. But the movie sucked. There I said it. 

Nicole: I’ll make you an Anchorman fan yet…WHAMMY!

The Film Fatales give ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND CONTINUES

(Well, one of us would like to give it only ½ stilletto).