The Movie Waffler New Release Review - Anchorman 2 | The Movie Waffler

New Release Review - Anchorman 2

Sequel to the cult 2004 comedy.

Directed by:Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Kristen Wiig, Jim Carrey, Harrison Ford, Liam Neeson, Kirsten Dunst, Vince Vaughan, Steve Carell, James Marsden, Sacha Baron Cohen, Tina Fey, Greg Kinnear, Amy Poehler, Luke Wilson, John C Reilly, Kanye West, Dylan baker, Fred Willard




It's the eighties, and news anchorman Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) has become separated from his wife and son, who are unable to put up with his unique personality any longer. When a new 24 hour news network (GNN) is established in New York, Burgundy accepts their offer of an anchoring position and rounds up his old San Diego crew: Brick Tamland (Carell), Brian Fantana (Ruud) and Champ Kind (Koechner). The catch, however, is that they've been allocated the graveyard shift of 2am to 5pm. Unperturbed, Burgundy accepts a challenge from hotshot news anchor Jack Lime (Marsden) to beat his primetime ratings.
Attempting to sum up the premise of Anchorman 2 is pretty tricky, given there's not much of a story to draw on here. The script, from Ferrell and director Adam McKay, is a rambling, unfocused mess that dangles embryonic plotlines before us, only to let them awkwardly dissipate without any satisfactory conclusion. The movie's trailer features material that isn't actually in the finished film, suggesting there's a longer, likely even more rambling and unfocused awaiting us on DVD. As it stands, Anchorman 2 feels more like an extended series of deleted scenes than any kind of satisfyingly cohesive story.
It's the sort of movie that gives you the feeling it was a lot more fun to work on than watch. That's not to say it's without laughs. At times Anchorman 2 is hilarious but the laugh ratio is no more than about one successful gag for every five misfires. Much of the film is indeed painfully unfunny, particularly anything involving Carell, mainly due to jokes extended unnecessarily as though the creators are terrified audiences might miss the gag if they don't spell it out in minute detail. If you're happy to mine through 100 minutes of poorly played jokes for 20 minutes of comedy gems you'll happily enjoy Anchorman 2, but Ferrell has been given far too much control here and his untempered ego runs amok at his film's expense.
5/10


Eric Hillis