Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie

Wake up, Ron Burgundy is allegedly made of deleted scenes from Anchorman, but while it's obvious how some scenes fit into the movie such as Ron's dangerous driving here leading to the parking scene in Anchorman, there's no way most of this would have ever fit. I assume a lot of last-minute re-shoots were involved.

Some elements work. The Alarm Clock gang is hilarious. They are a group with political goals, but seem unclear on what they are and lack any sort of grand plan. The bit with Amy Poehler as a bank teller who refuses to give them any money because they are so inept as bank robbers is one of the best in the movie. Justin Long as Ed's sullen teenage son, Chris, and Chad Everett as Jess Moondragon, Ron's mentor who won't shut up about how inappropriately he loves nature, also have some very memorable bits. Note that none of these (fairly significant) characters are in Anchorman.

Unfortunately, the movie is just a series of bits. It doesn't really come together. To some degree, this is to be expected in a movie assembled from deleted scenes, but it's more than that. The jokes get too much narrative priority, often leading to things that just don't fit in the context of the movie. Veronica Corningstone's personality is all over the place and Champ King's moment in the car goes on way too long, even though it starts well, for instance. This really hurts suspension of disbelief as it never really establishes any rules to play by.

This is a serious problem, but I'm giving the movie a 6 anyway, mainly because it made me laugh so hard I nearly vomited on several occasions, like when Brick explained what he was eating or any of Paul's attempts to explain the manifesto. In short, this is a great way to present deleted scenes. It isn't a great movie.

As I am sure most of you know, Wake Up, Ron Burgundy was compiled completely of deleted scenes and alternate takes. Some are saying it is a sequel to Anchorman, but it feels more like an alternate movie. The same things happen to all the characters, but in different ways. All it took was a narrator to piece together the scenes on the cutting floor and there you have it, another movie!

Wake Up, Ron Burgundy is obviously not as good as Anchorman, due to the fact that most of the best scenes made it into the original movie. However, it is an awesome supplement to the original movie, complete with it's own set of special features. It even has it's own deleted scenes. Considering the movie is all deleted scenes, they must have had a ton of extra footage to pull together a project like this. If the movie had to stand on it's own, I would not rate it very high, but for what it is, I give it about a 6.5/10.

I loved "Anchorman; The Legend of Ron Burgundy" and hoped this would be just as funny, but alas, it wasn't. Some bits are excellent though. I thought the sports guy, Champ Kind, professing his love for Ron Burgundy in the car filled with the other members of the news team was hilarious. Everyone is ignoring him and he just gets louder and louder and finally kisses Burgundy which doesn't get acknowledged either. But on the whole the story doesn't gel. It's a noble attempt, however, to salvage the unused bits from the first movie, including an entire plot about some pretty benign would-be domestic terrorists called "The Alarm Clock." Maya Rudolph of Saturday Night Live is one of the members and has a couple of funny lines, but basically this unused plot line has good reason to be unused in the first movie. The extras on this disk are pretty good, with the best two being the filmed rehearsals featuring lots of improv comedy, and the faux commentary with Will Ferrell and an "exec producer" who Ferrell discovers early on was not even a part of the movie in any way, shape or form. Turns out he's "just a guy" who walked in the side door of the recording studio and pretended to be a producer. It's some pretty funny stuff though and goes on for about 10 or 15 minutes

Before seeing this movie, it is a good idea to see Anchorman. At that point, if you have not laughed yourself into a comatose state, then it would be a good time to see this film. From the first few moments watching this, you can see why the footage in this movie was trimmed from Anchorman. Not as funny as that film, the line delivery lacks the 70s-induced obliviousness of the original. What you do see is the main characters of the two movies get deeper into their characterizations, taking them in a slightly different direction from the first film. Some of the scenes in this movie feel out of place with the narration, an element of the film I personally could have done without. This review sounds negative, but what I am listing here are only small gripes with an otherwise acceptable film. Together, Anchorman and Wake Up, Ron Burgundy make one hilarious movie. Without the first, Wake Up Ron Burgundy feels kind of strange.

Instead of just including the deleted/alternate scenes of "Anchorman", the producers edited them together into a brand new movie. Even though there is new narration explaining how it is a sequel, it is very clear to anyone watching that many of the scenes are alternate versions of scenes in the original film. The main plot (which is most likely a discarded subplot from the original) involves a pacifist gang called the alarm clock, whose members include Maya Rudolph (SNL), and Amy Poehler (Upright Citizens Brigade, SNL) is also in the film. This movie is not as funny as the original, and moves a bit slower, but all together it is worth seeing if you liked the original.