Review: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Set as the 70s give way to the 80s, idiotically macho newsman Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) is back and he’s still a moron. Pushed aside by the San Diego newsroom (via boss Harrison Ford) in order for wife/co-anchor Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) to tackle the news desk on her own, Burgundy’s world- and marriage- fall about. He becomes a lousy drunk who can’t seem to hold down a job, not even hosting a dolphin show at Sea World. But then he gets a call about a gig at a proposed 24 hour cable news channel centred in NY, and thing might just be about to pick up. This despite the fact that he gets racially inappropriate with new producer Meagan Good, who happens to be black. He gathers together the old team of Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd, whose character had been dabbling in porn…or pet photography, it’s hard to tell), sports reporter Champ Kind (David Koechner, who had been working at a supremely redneck fast food chain), and space cadet weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell, who casually wanders into his own funeral) and get set to cover…the graveyard shift, whilst Ken doll news anchor Jack Lime (James Marsden) gets the prime gig. Undeterred, Burgundy and co make a bet that they can out-do Lime in the ratings. Needless to say, it’s no easy thing, though eventually Burgundy figures out how to get good ratings by giving viewers dumb sensationalist shit that they crave. Fred Willard returns briefly as Burgundy’s former station manager back in San Diego, Josh Lawson is the allegedly Australian station owner in NY who also owns an airline, Greg Kinnear is Corningstone’s ponytail-sporting douchy new boyfriend, and Kristen Wiig plays an oddly introverted, seemingly dense receptionist in NY who locks eyes with Brick. Cameos by every actor and comedian (plus Kanye West and “Degrassi” alum Aubrey Graham. What? It’s not like he’s done anything since, right?...) you’ve ever heard of come thick and fast throughout.

 

Pretty much everybody is back for this 2013 sequel from director Adam McKay (“Anchorman”, “Talladega Nights”, the underrated “The Other Guys”) and his co-writer/star Will Ferrell. They’ve also brought most of the laughs, too. Sadly, most isn’t all, and this is indeed a slight step down in quality from the first film, which is one of Ferrell’s better comedies. This one’s pretty typical Ferrell (“Blades of Glory”, “Talladega Nights”), with good bits, and a fair amount of spaced in between those good bits.

 

The problem is that the film’s main target is Fox News (Why else would the owner be an Aussie?), and because the film tries for satire and is far too exaggerated, it just doesn’t work. Yes, Fox News Channel is awful, but they didn’t become a success by being as moronic and simplistic as this film suggests. Fox News isn’t a station devoted to mindless car chase stories or cute pets, it’s a bit smarter than that (sneaky is probably a better word, though), and much more devoted to right-wing politics and conservative cultural issues. Hell, their actual news coverage is little different to most other networks, it’s the political opinion shows that are biased beyond belief (“Hannity” especially). I loathe the network and wish someone would really stick it to them, and make it funny (“The Colbert Report” is an excellent take on “The O’Reilly Factor”), but anyone who has watched Fox News knows that it’s already hilarious on its own, and certainly funnier than this. Hell, the film is set about 10 years too early to make sense anyway. By not sticking to what they’re good at (and had success with before), McKay and Ferrell only hit the mark on occasion, and usually in the moments that aren’t taking jabs at Fox News.

 

I also think the character and performance by Meagan Good is a complete failure. I’m not sure who exactly is to blame (though Good is certainly spectacularly awful in the role), but nothing with this character works at all, her motives are fuzzy and confusing right until the very end. If she was genuinely into him, she certainly didn’t play it that way for most of the film’s length, she came across like she was trying to dupe him for some reason and then all of a sudden seemed sincere. I’m not sure if Good chose to play it this way or was instructed to, but it’s a mess. As for Aussie comedian/actor Josh Lawson playing a very broad caricature of an Australian media mogul…I hope it was worth selling your soul and selling out your country, Mr. Lawson. I heard him in press gigs saying he was told to play up the accent because our natural accent is apparently not what the yanks associate with us. So? Tell ‘em to fuck off then, Josh! No Australian talks the way he does in this film. No one. No, not even Kerry Packer, and certainly not the Americanised Rupert Murdoch. Lawson sounds like a hyperactive Kiwi trying to imitate a pom trying to imitate an Aussie. It’s not even funny, which might’ve at least saved Lawson.

 

The celebrity cameos come thick and fast, but to be honest, the only funny one is Liam Neeson, pretty much spoofing one of his best roles. A shockingly unfunny Harrison Ford in particular looks distressingly suicidal for his recurring cameo, while Greg Kinnear basically plays Tim Robbins in “High Fidelity”, with similarly unfunny results. The film also shamefully wastes the brilliant comedic stylings of Fred Willard in a boring, borderline serious station manager role. What the hell? Truth be told, even Christina Applegate doesn’t get much to do this time out. I also don’t think Paul Rudd’s porno schtick was funny, and David Koechner’s Randy Quaid-esque character wasn’t nearly as funny this time around (His ‘Chicken of the Cave’ was funny, though).

 

Consistent or not, the film definitely has some very funny moments. I didn’t take to Steve Carell last time out, but this time he really worked for me, despite still being a bit shrill. His first moment on screen at a funeral is pretty damn funny (and incredibly stupid), and nearly every other moment with him works too. As funny as it was to hear Ferrell unable to stop saying the word ‘black’ when he first meets Good, it’s downright hilarious when Carell mistakes his own shadow for a black man. WHAT? Is Carell’s character even human? “SNL” alum Kristen Wiig’s brand of humour is generally unappealing to me. All of her characters on the show are oddballs, usually with some kind of physical deformity or intellectual disability, that I personally find offensive (and not just because I’m a paraplegic) and more than a little odd. Here she’s doing her weirdo introvert thing, and cast as Carell’s love interest, she’s certainly not miscast, if not my idea of funny, either. At least Rachel Dratch or Cheri Oteri weren’t cast in the role.

 

Ferrell’s Burgundy continues to be a brilliantly stupid, and stupidly arrogant character. It’s a terrible joke in a way, but Burgundy talking jive to Goode’s family is terribly amusing. Meanwhile, the idiotic logic behind Burgundy being unable to masturbate anymore because he’s blind is insanely funny. Also funny is Ron’s early descent into a creepy Sea World dolphin show emcee. But the humour is really spotty, and the celebrity cameos really go into overdrive towards the end, and at times are just plain bizarre instead of being funny (Kirsten Dunst was a particular head-scratcher, ditto Will Smith). It’s a shame that the filmmakers have forgotten what the first film was founded on, and instead have tried to mix stupid humour with political/media satire, the latter of which they just aren’t good at (Just look at Ferrell’s “The Campaign”, which was appalling).

 

I just didn’t enjoy this one as much as last time, and in fact at times I found myself disengaged from it and focusing on the awesome 70s/80s soundtrack of rock tunes (Van Halen, Christopher Cross’s ‘Ride Like the Wind’, Styx’s ‘Babe’), and R&B (Earth, Wind, and Fire’s classic ballad ‘After the Love is Gone’, Hot Chocolate etc.) Still highly watchable, but uneven on the laugh-o-meter, and pretty disappointing given how long we had to wait for it. Oh, and shame on you, Mr. Lawson. Shame on you!

 

Rating: C+