Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is like Marmite. My first watch left me thoroughly confused, but the second…woah. It clicked, and I joined the millions of others who would accept ‘Smelly Pirate Hooker’ as an adequate welcome. The Human Torch was denied a bank loan.
I don’t think a sequel was ever needed, but it came, so of course I was going to try it. It doesn’t scale the heights of the first, but that isn’t to say it isn’t a funny and entertaining movie. It returns to many old favourites, with new twists, and adds in some new characters to reflect the changing times.
Fortunately though, the Channel 4 News Team hasn’t changed; they are still as stupid and un-pc as they ever were. Ron takes centre stage, whilst Brian and Brick slot into place around him once again. Koechner’s Champ Kind is the weak link, but it wouldn’t be the same without him.
Sadly there were a few jokes I noticed in the various marketing materials that didn’t make it into the finished movie. Safe to assume there will be plenty of out-takes for the DVD I think.
Something that jumped out several times is that for all his idiocy, Ron has several ideas that in this world directly shaped the idea of television we have today. Add in the humanity that Ferrell brings and you have a character that is strong not because he is an idiot, but despite it.
This film could have been a mess, tarring the reputation of the classic that came before it. Instead, Anchorman 2 manages to bring this beloved set of characters back without embarrassing itself, at least not unintentionally. Along the way it manages to raise plenty of laughs, and although not immediately as quotable as its predecessor, makes for probably as good a sequel as we could have hoped for.
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