El periodista: la leyenda de Ron Burgundy

...that genre being "manly men behaving stupidly". Its charm is in the fact that it is not pretending to be anything other than what it is - it does not try to get you to do anything other than laugh. The film is also responsible for giving Steve Carell his breakthrough role as Brick, the news weatherman who can hardly assemble a coherent sentence.

The film centers around Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), a local news anchorman in San Diego at an unspecified time. From the fashions and music, it could be anytime between 1968 and 1975. Ron is basically a lecherous yet likable leisure suit Larry who is mainly a face - he has no real journalistic talents or instincts. He simply reads the news that others report. The trouble begins when the station manager hires a new newswoman, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) who at first is given only fluff pieces to do. The big step forward for Veronica is that she is working as a reporter at all. This was considered women's lib in 1970 - just being admitted to the club. This did not exempt you from all kinds of hazing and sexual harassment, which was considered the price of admission. A romance develops between Ron and Veronica that ends quite abruptly when Ron is late to the set and Veronica goes on in his place. She does so well that she and Ron become co-anchors and the war begins - Veronica against every other man in the newsroom, all who feel threatened by a woman anchoring the news. However, Veronica plays it smart and takes advantage of the fact that Ron will say anything that comes across the teleprompter without even thinking about it.

Normally I don't like these kinds of films at all, but for some reason this one just gets funnier every time I watch it. Especially funny is the conclusion, with actual investigative reporter Bill Kurtis discussing the destinies of everyone at the station.

This summer I've seen several intentionally stupid funny movies, and enjoyed them. Adam McKay's "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" is no exception. Seems that my taste for high concept cinema has been influenced by the summer-- well not really. This movie written by McKay and it's star Will Ferrell is an outrageous and completely over the top comedy. Applaud Will Ferrell as the mind bendingly stupid and self absorbed, San Diego newscaster, Ron Burgundy. Will Ferrell is genius in playing Ron straight without character dispersions. Ferrell creates a great deadpan sense with his cohabiting dog, Baxter, and the fact that his character Ron Burgundy will read ANYTHING on the teleprompter, his tragic flaw, well at least one of several, is priceless. Ferrell also never crosses the line of being a complete jerk which is an amazing accomplishment. In fact, Ferrell gives Ron a muted charm-- he really does grow on you.

Basically, "Anchorman" is an extended sitcom. Ron is informed by his station manager, Ed (a funny Fred Willard), that he will have a co-anchor, Veronica Corningstone (a hot Christina Applegate). Turns out that Veronica was a woman whom was immune to Ron's vast charm at a wild news crew party. Veronica is beautiful, ambitious, and smart. She too has aspirations of being a Network Anchor. The Boys Club news crew which include sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner), feature story guy Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), and the dumb as a post weatherman Brick Tamland (Steven Carell) all make their play for Veronica. However, she falls for Ron in spite of himself. Ron eventually woos her affections in a totally wacky jazz flute display. The screen writing is so skewed in a good way, and it has absolutely no shame. There is a classic scene with Ron's dog Baxter, and a bridge that according to my bud, John, shatters a fundamental script writing rule. In another memorable scene Ron gives an erroneous translation of the name San Diego to Veronica that is hilarious. "Anchorman" also benefits from cameos of talented actors, most notably Vince Vaughn as Wes Mantooth, the rival station anchor. Christina Applegate looks great, and truly has a talent for comedy.

"Anchorman" is completely over the top, and ignores any boundaries. That really makes it work. "Anchorman" is broad stroke farce done well. Will Ferrell demonstrates great comedic gifts. I want to see what he creates next. For now, "Anchorman" is just great fun, and very funny stuff.

In a year packed with comedies that were all a bit stupid and silly (and all seemed to feature Ben Stiller), Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy reigns supreme above them all. This is a movie that is well aware of its own stupidity, and best of all, it is able to embrace it skillfully so that it is exactly as silly and immature as it wants to be. It is such a great comedy; I'd consider it the Naked Gun of our generation.

As apposed to many, many, other comedies, Anchorman actually gets better as it moves along. Most of the time a comedy like this will use up all the laughs in the first hour and then try to take a serious, lovey-dovey turn in the last act. There are more laughs in the last half hour than in the first half hour, which usually is never the case. It's as if there was some mathematical comedic formula that spread the laughs out in a way that it was consistently funny. Or, maybe they just got lucky. I dunno.

I loved all the characters in the movie, every role no matter how small had a great moment or two. Will Ferrel of course, the star of the movie who is just perfect as Ron. He's so so funny 'cause he's such a lovable idiot. Even Christina Appelgate, who was in a role that quite honestly anyone could have done, is able to make it her own and provide some laughs. There is a scene that has a lot of cameos that was hilarious as well. It was one of those moments that takes you completely by surprise.

So, what else can I say except that I loved Anchorman! It's the best "stupid" comedy I've seen in years. This is Will Ferrel at his best and it will be hard to top.

My rating: 9/10

Apart from spawning multiple memes over the years, this movie also got quite a few laughs out of me. The comedy isn't what you'd call 'high brow' but that's because it's aimed at the 'immature kid' in all of us, and that's why it makes us laugh. "Anchorman 2" was a huge disappointment and I wouldn't recommend that you watch that at all.... Just watch the original and appreciate how good it is.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is a completely ridiculous, yet very hilarious movie. There are so many quotable lines in this movie that even if you haven't seen it, you've probably heard many of the jokes already. It's a great balance between situational comedy and absolute absurdity. Plus, there's even some actual story mixed in with the humor. This is one Will Ferrell movie that I think hits the comedy nail right on the head.