Bottom Line: Anchorman
I will give you all a short synopsis of this film before the berating begins so here goes: Ron Burgundy, self-proclaimed ladies? man, smooth-talking mustache-wearing anchorman is Channel 4 San Diego?s leading news reporter. Heading a team of news associates Burgundy (Ferrell) brings ?his? city the top stories with an Emmy winning smile and world-class persona, however, when a new anchorwoman threatens to infiltrate the tight-knit team of reporters, dissention arises.
Taking place in the 70?s, ?Anchorman? attempts to fashion itself visually and structurally after similar television programs of that era. What the viewer sees are hairstyles, wardrobe, language, and workplace mentalities supposedly indicative of that period. What I saw was a film that was absolutely without a doubt one of the worst films of the year. I highly recommend that if you intend on going to see this film to be prepared for disappointment. Ferrell loses audience interest after 20 minutes into the picture with his Robert Goulet-esque character, not spouting any cleaver or humorous anecdotes for us to enjoy like he has in so many other of his films (?Old School?, ?Zoolander?, etc..). I never thought that a film carried by Ferrell would be so unentertaining to the point where I had to leave the theater. Many of the comedy relievers (Steve Carell, David Koechner, Paul Rudd) came up short in what had the potential to be a very funny comedy. Christina Applegate?s triumphant return to mainstream comedy was met with a stale uninteresting character and choppy script for her to attempt to portray onscreen. Since the film was in fact written by Ferrell himself (along with SNL writer alum Adam McKay) it was easy to see why actors should leave it to comedy writers to write comedy films (i.e. Tina Fey).
Bottom-Line: Go see the film if you have nothing better to do but do not be expecting the hilarious and unpredictable Will Ferrell you have grown to love. As a big Will Ferrell fan, here?s hoping that his next film involves more zany humor and less boring antics.
D-
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