Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

The legend does continue in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, but does it need to?  I suppose that is the major question that I have regarding many sequels, especially comedy follow-ups which usually turn out to be a simple repackaging the same jokes but in slightly altered formats.  Myself, I landed on the fence with Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy which seemed to be a decent success in theatres and won the hearts of many audience members.  I found that the movie was a collection of a number of jokes that failed for me, but that had some moments of brilliance where I could not stop laughing.

That is really about how I will sum up the sequel, which I felt did to a bit better in its failed to succeeded joke ratio than the original.  The movie is littered with moment after moment that is supposed to be funny, and the majority of those never quite hit home with me and merely reminded me of what I would laugh at when I was in grade four.  The film is without much of a plot (that should not be a big surprise to any), and just is a mode to usher in the next batch of ‘comedic’ moments.

While admitting the complete lack of traction that so many of the jokes wound up with, it was the ones that hit their mark that established and maintained the tone of fun in the film.  Perhaps maybe only thirty percent of the jokes made me laugh, a percentage that would easily make me think that the film was dreadful.  However, it was the thirty percent that I found so much delightful that it somehow managed to outweigh what the majority of the film was.  One thing that I am great full to the talent behind Anchorman 2 is the fact that it does not resort to toilet humour and mean humour.  There may be a little bit here and there, but for the most part it is a very honest, sincere, and purposefully naïve film.

It stars Will Ferrell who plays the role of Ron Burgandy, a true man of the news who has hair to cause the gods to stumble with envy and a mustache that could have built Rome in a day.  Returning to their roles as the rest of the news crew is Steve Carrell as the weather dullard Brick Tamland, Paul Rudd as the sexually styling reporter Brian Fantana, and David Koechner as the politically incorrect sports reporter Champ Kind.  For fans of the original movie, there may be very little disappointment found in what lies in wait for these characters who are questing to reclaim their former news casting glory.

But, on the flip side, for people who were not fans of the original, or are fence sitters like myself, this film probably will not win you over completely to the franchise.  It was a funnier film than the first one, but it still has so much that misses the mark for me.  I suppose there is a plot and story to the movie, but none of that really matters.  This film is all about the delivery of the zingers, and the inconsistency in which it accomplishes that task is what keeps it from being a great comedy.

Rating – 2.5 out of 4 stars