Genres

Visitors Review

Richard Pullen 2012-05-25 05:26:04

My kind of comedy!

I like more mature comedies a lot! "About Schmidt", "Punch-Drunk Love","The Player" etc etc etc But as much as I want to be a 'snob' filmviewer but at the end of the day (cliche!) I keep coming back to theAce Ventura's the Zoolander's and the ANCHORMAN's of the cinema world!And why the hell not!?!?!?! This is just a really funny film to watch.Will Ferrell some how survived the comedy horror performances in "ANight at the Roxbury" and poor (admit it) cameos in "The Ladies Man"and the Austin Powers movies to a film career that the likes "OldSchool", "Elf" and now "Anchorman" has seen him become the biggestgraduate of Saturday Night Live since Adam Sandler and Mike Myers.The support cast in "Anchorman" are great with a good performance byApplegate and Burgundy's team of Rudd, Carell & Koechner are hilariousalong with the great Fred Willard (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind)But for me this film was made great because the legendary Tim Robbins &Vince Vaughn turned up along with the equally legendary Ben Stiller andfriend of them all Luke Wilson! GENIUS!Watch this film!

muchneededescape 2012-05-24 20:30:43

a lot better than i thought

I originally wrote this movie off to be a stupid little Will Ferrellflick that lacked almost any actual kind of humor at all. I alsothought that Ferrell could never pull off a comedy where he is the maincharacter. However, I saw Anchorman today and I'm shocked to say thatit actually had a lot of funny moments. As expected, almost the entirecast of Old School was in action but it wasn't a bad thing. One of thefunniest parts was the big news team bedlam and the talk they hadafterward about what had happened was hilarious. In conclusion, it wasreally silly but pretty funny too...surprisingly. And ChristinaApplegate is pretty hot and that always helps too.

2012-05-17 15:57:52

A fistful of gags

Will Ferrell's first big comedy after Elf won't rake in the dollars that his holiday heartwarmer did, nor is it likely to go over as well with critics, who were able to forgive Elf's schmaltzy ending due to the imaginative gags. Anchorman is a pretty funny comedy, although there is nothing much to occupy our minds as we wait for the next funny joke. The movie takes a shotgun approach, spraying us liberally with jokes to see what sticks, and enough did that I was happy walking out of the theater. The storyline is pretty simple-Ron Burgundy is a bigshot local tv anchorman in the seventies, who is so entrenched in the way that things are that he can't even conceive of an aspiring female anchor as a threat. He quickly falls in love with said aspirant Applegate, but they break up as soon as her encroachment on his professional turf is too much to ignore. Happy ending, blah blah blah.

Dominic 2012-05-17 09:44:04

Seriously uninteresting!

Im sorry to say that the movie really did not cut it. I understood that the movie was made to have hardly any plot and was supposed to be just a big barrel of laughs. Unfortuanately the cheap laughs that it did get were very scarce and not all that funny. Ya know when someone tries to overexaggerate everything and anything to be funny...thats kinda of like what Will Farrel did the entire movie. I found myself either talking throughout the most of the movie or pretty much bored.

Mattias Petersson 2012-05-11 12:17:57

Decent rental

"Anchorman" is one of those movies that i have a hard time with. Idon't know what to think really. While i did get some laughs out of it,it still left me wondering what it was i just saw. It's like a jokewith no clear punchline, it might be funny but you still wonder whatthe big point was.This movie rests heavily on the shoulders of Will Ferrell. He's inalmost every scene in the movie and i think he carries it quite well.Ferrell is one of those comedy actors that has the ability to be atleast somewhat funny even when the material is not. Many Saturday NightLive-skits were saved by him in my opinion. Here he is the centerpiecebut he also has good help from the standard supporting actors formovies like this one, people like Vince Vaughn and Steve Carell. Asidefrom Will Ferrell most responsibility lies on Christina Applegate. Shehas comic timing enough but her character is quite poorly written whichdoesn't really allow her to deliver."Anchorman" is a movie that is sometimes very funny but most of thetime not spectacularly so. Rather i was sitting there watching, oftenwith a smile and an occasional laugh. It's not boring but it's notgreat. It's the most funny when well-known actors show up in cameos.Not only do they add some surprise to the mix but those scenes alsofeel more well-written than most. "Anchorman" is not an intelligentmovie but it doesn't offend your intelligence either like so many othermovies with this set-up and actors. Recommended as a decent rental.5/10.

2012-05-11 04:37:16

Fun and entertaining.

I just saw this one ten minutes ago and I gotta say it was funny but very stupid. I like these kinds of comedies. I am speaking of both widescreen and fullscreen in every review about DVDs. If you like those kinds of movies where there are mature and crude humor, you'll like this one. I suggest you rent it and watch it. You'll have a great time filled with laughter and fun.

2012-05-09 08:06:26

Situational comedy at it's greatest.

This movie is will Ferrell at his finest. From the opening credits he plays the bumbling anchorman known as Ron Burgundy in perfect form. When you buy this movie it will be for Will Ferrell's genius, he creates a character who is not simply a humorous idiot (that part is played by Steve Carell) but has motivation, sorrow, and even wit at times. The dialog and writing on this movie is brilliant, the lines aren't ridiculously cheesy or over the top stupid for sake of being funny. By the same token it doesn't feel as if every line reads like it took a conglomeration of 10 minds 30 minutes to create it. Throughout it all Ferrell stays the man with below average IQ who is attempting to win his newfound love Veronica Corningstone and retain his job. Great cast, great writing, thank you Will Ferrell.

2012-05-09 03:57:35

MINUS 5 STARS - it was that bad!

I would rate this flick a MINUS 5 STARS if I could. It was total waste of film. DO NOT purchase, DO NOT borrow, DO NOT even bother to rent ANCHORMAN - you will be spending too much money and wasting time! My husband and I could not believe the positive reviews this got on your site. There were actually a handful of people who found something entertaining in this? Hmmmmm this is right up there with the all time worst films ever created. Given the choice of watching it again OR catching the FLU, the FLU would win HANDS DOWN!

novacancy17 2012-05-07 23:28:50

Nights of Columbus!

The Legend of Ron Burgandy, Anchorman examines the life of a popularnews anchor in 1970's San Diego. He has the bad hair, the cheesymustache and everything else that makes a man popular, even if hedoesn't have a clue about what journalism is. When a beautiful woman(Christina Applegate) who actually has an intellect shows up at thestation, Ron is at first intrigued - that is until he finds out thatshe will be co-anchoring with him. In a society and industry where menrule, there is not enough room for the both of them, and while they areboth romantically interested in one another, it is going to be war...Very little can be said in this review to change someone's mind aswhether to see Anchorman or not; the first time the previews played,most people decided right then and there. Ferrell has a big followingof fans who find him to be one of the funniest men alive, and thenthere are those that see him as only the next successor of the SNLcomedians, who have the tendency to make their mark for a few years andthen fade off. Anchorman is a movie for those that enjoy silly humor;anyone who doesn't should probably just stop reading this review rightnow. Anchorman is funny from beginning to end, mainly thanks toFerrell's skillful need to be zany at all moments of filming. Ferrellis so good at turning even the worst material into something witty thatthere is really no point in analyzing the script; the only thing thatcan be said is that the script obviously gave Ferrell and the rest ofthe cast free range to work their magic, and also throws in some jabsat the television journalism. For instance, for the entire movie all ofthe news stations are clambering over the story of a pregnant panda atthe zoo, labeling it as "the story of the decade." Funny enough, thisisn't too far from the truth as local news tends to put a huge emphasison unimportant animal stories. By the way, Steve Carrell as Brick isalso quite hilarious. The movie succeeds by always being goofy andnever taking itself seriously; it never stops to take a breath so Iloved it! Nathan Cali

2012-05-07 07:47:55

"Oh Baxter, You Are My Little Gentleman"

Alright. Where can I begin? Well, let's just say that Anchorman is probably the funniest movie to ever be shown on the big screen. From the moment we see Brick shoving mayo into a toaster to the special features (ESPN audition and all), I never stopped laughing. Anchorman is filled with non-stop, completely quotable lines ("You are so wise. You're like a miniature Buddah covered in hair"). True, it can be a little racy at points, but in the end, Anchorman is a winner. Look for amazing cameos by Luke Wilson and Ben Stiller!

MLDinTN 2012-04-29 17:24:26

no plot, but some funny scenes

The one big complaint about Anchorman is it had no plot. It was about thisbig shot tv newsman, Ron Burgandy, and how he has to deal with theintroduction of a female reporter, Veronica, who also wants to be a newsanchor. So, we get a lot of sexist jokes since it takes place in the 70s.The movie felt like a bunch of short skits thrown together. Ron datesVeronica and announces it to the office. Very funny. He also with a coworkermakes prank phone calls to her. He has his news buddies, which form a funnyand unusual group. One guy says things that are off the wall and havenothing to do with the conversation. It had some funny cameos, Luke Wilsonand Ben Stiller. There was one disturbing scene in which the audienceactually gasped and that was when Jack Black kicks a dog over a bridge. Thatwas terrible. But, the dog lived and came back to negotiate with a bear.Don't even ask if you haven't seen the film.It had one very funny and uncomfortable scene when Ron is talking toVeronica and gets "very excited" at the office. Ron and his buddies singAfternoon Delight; it was just funny how they did it. I along with thepeople I was with laughed a lot. And throughout the film, they let us knowRon will read whatever is on the telepromtor, so you know that will lead toa good joke. Veronica writes something which gives this pg-13 film it's one"f" word. And it was very funny. There are many other scenes which made melaugh, I just wish more thought had been put into coming up with a delimafor the characters to overcome.FINAL VERDICT: I found it to be funny, so I recommend it. But, it certainlyis not a great movie because there is no plot. If you like Will Ferrell,definitely see it.

johnnyboyz 2012-04-29 06:50:33

Loud, obnoxious and woefully misjudged – newsflash: it's horrid.

A collective sigh ought to sound up amongst the audience once the endtitles for the horror-show that-is Anchorman: The Legend of RonBurgundy begin to scroll, a collective sigh of relief that the pain isover and the fact that the characters we just spent the runtime of thefilm with are going onto the sorts of things that none of it's targetaudience will ever see or experience - and all that by way of acting inthe manners they do throughout. The film is a misfire of monumentalproportions, a horribly misjudged; badly executed piece whose veryexistence, whose very presence, on the screen just feels like acontinuous two-fingers up gesture at the watching audience. What playsout under a very colourful; very false (in more ways than one) settingfull of daft, glossy 1970s clichés and pastiches is a series ofun-likable people doing leery, stupid and downright cruel things to oneanother; all under this painfully upbeat and colourful umbrella of the'spoof' variety. In a word, it is shocking and I am stunned at theoverwhelmingly positive reaction it has received.The film, whose overly long title does not deserve to be re-typed, isquite clearly supposed to be some sort of stupid spoof of egotisticaldriven, male dominated work places from yester-decade and thebeginnings of the rise of female co-workers in this area. The filmcovers what Claire Monk wrote about in the late 1990s in regards to menin crisis and the rise in feminism, and that these sorts of things werebeing explored in British cinema of that time under the banner ofcomedy. But where Brassed Off and The Full Monty were more restrainedin their humour and attitudes towards women and the respectivedesperate situations the guys were in, Anchorman ploughs on aheadwithout a destination in its brain and without a brain in its head;tearing up the road forever in search of pathetic, frat-boy inspiredlaughs.Will Ferrell plays the the titular role of Ron Burgundy, an anchor manat a California based TV network. He's the lead guy at a local newsstation and head of a crew of others that include sports reporters andweather guys. No distinction is made as to why he's the best in thebusiness and as to why he's such the proclaimed genius everyone thinkshe is, I guess he is purely out the fact he happens to be the one thatintroduces and concludes each broadcast. The man wears a sickly grinand kisses his biceps in what is an ego-driven and very masculine actthat signifies power in the workplace, by way of muscular iconography.He dresses in loud suits and sweet-talks his way into and out of many-asituation, usually involving attractive women of some sort. Despitethis titular-proclaimed legendary status, the man is severely andfrighteningly mentally disturbed. I think the above cliché-riddenmasculine archetype is introduced fairly well, but the film reallywants us to buy into this character as he stands when the whole thingshould be of the spoof variety. Rather than introduce and proclaim"look how much of an idiot this guy is and how stupid his attitudesare", I think we're supposed to follow an ideation along the lines of:"look how fantastic this guy is, and look at how he got to where he isby way of treating others".What is supposed to be the direct conflict of the piece's charactersarrives in the form of Christina Applegate's Veronica Corningstone, afemale employed by the station after rising demands for femaleemployees, and an instance of Monk's theory revolving around the riseof women in male dominated work places rearing its head. For aboutthirty to forty minutes the film does something with this idea, then ithas its two leads sleep with one another before veering off into a dumbpassage of play revolving around the two hating each other and workingout new ways to demonstrate this hating. For what should be the bestpart, the film introduces a pig of a male character; has him seduce astrong and up-coming female character attempting to get a foothold asfeminism arises with her; consequently bring her back down to Earthbefore branching out into a narrative that is about one rung above thatof an episode of a Tom and Jerry cartoon.Burgundy is a living legend; he's both every male's idol and fantasyand sits atop both the TV ratings and his career path along with hiscrew. Yet the man is unaware of what 'San Diego' translates into out ofthe Spanish language; the man abuses his power rather than come torespect it when he attempts to pull women at a party at someone's poolhouse and on occasion, his dog talks to him, further pushing the filmout into a scary realm it shouldn't really be treading anywhere near –maybe we ought to re-title the film 'The Legend of David RichardBerkowitz'. There's a really uneven sense of sexual predatory goings-onin Anchorman, and the realisation that it's the horrid and somewhatevil piece that it is settles in by way of an ominous and creepyfashion. The film's runtime is false; it needs dumb extra tidbits tobulk it out: a horribly misjudged scene in which a dog is supposedlykilled is one of them, and a monumentally tired Sergio Leone pastichehad me with my head in my hands. Everything in the film bottoms out;from weatherman Brick's (Carell) role as the constant source ofridicule due to his own special needs, to the fact the film thinksconstant shouting acts as something 'funny' on screen. Anchorman: TheLegend of Ron Burgundy is trash of most misjudged, misguided order.

stuff-38 2012-04-29 04:37:19

Laugh out loud funny!

Great movie, I love Wil Ferrel! I haven't laughed that hard in a movietheater for a long, long time. They nailed the look, feel and attitudeof the time period...just nailed it.The supporting characters were almost as funny as Wil, especially Brick(the weather man)...his low I.Q. was a high point of the movie...purecomedic gold! It's good to see Christina Applegate in a hit movie, sheis very talented, but I think the stigma of the Bundies (Married withChildren) has been haunting her career (she was great in A View fromthe Top).In conclusion, you must...MUST see this movie, it's a very good timeand a great laugh!

troptip69 2012-04-28 17:55:41

Was vastly disappointed on the humour aspect but was a highly enjoyable film.

What can i say, the film everyone has been talking about, It pains meto say i didn't find it as immensely enjoyable as people made it soundto be, but it was a nice ride to sit through and i didn't particularlyget bored, Will Ferrell fit's into his role nicely and i can see whythis film is so quotable, Wasn't too bad to waste away an hour and ahalf, Could of been as mind numbingly awful as the feces-fest that wastropic thunder,A film with a massive following and i see why, but the humour didn'treally connect with my sense, plus for the quotes that half thepopulation rinse and repeat, but not my cup of teaFor me, 6.5/10

possum-3 2012-04-27 04:57:22

Comedy is apparently dead

It appears that comedy is a lost art to Hollywood. Watching Ferrell andthe rest of the cast flounder their way through this scriptless mess,it's hard to believe that this same Hollywood produced Blazing Saddles,My Favorite Year, Roxanne and a long list of laughers that weren'treally made all that long ago.This film tries, tries, tries so hard, but it's obvious that no onereally had any ideas for humor before they went before the cameras. Thebasic premise is 'act stupid and the jokes will create themselves,'but, alas, they don't. Characters that are beyond caricatures are not agood place to start-- the only person who comes out of this mess with ameasure of dignity is Christina Applegate, who at least has a characterthat seems slightly real at least part of the time. The rest of the'characters' are just wigs and costumes and so horribly written thatthe actors can't do anything to fill the time, other than make facesand try to say things that show desperation rather than inspiration.The entire world depicted in this film is so senseless and ungroundedin reality that nothing CAN be funny, it's just Bizzaroland, and anunamusing one at that.Funniest recent movie? Kung Fu Hustle. Maybe the Chinese can take overour comedy industry along with manufacturing. Hollywood apparently isno longer up to the job...

Charles Herold 2012-04-26 16:24:46

underwhelming

Another mild comedy starring the genial, semi-talented Will Ferrel,this time playing a 70s news anchor. I heard this was a very funnymovie but I can't figure out why anyone would believe that. It's sortof amusing in its extended-Saturday-Night-Live-Skit kind of way, butafter 15 or 20 minutes of being reasonably amused I had seen everybasic comedy idea the movie was going to present, and it just keptrepeating itself. Ferrel's Ron Burgundy would be an acceptablecharacter for a sketch but there's not enough of him to make a wholemovie. The movie would have to be far funnier to sustain itsone-dimensional lead. The 1970s references strike me as odd; the moviedoesn't really seem to commit to a 70s period identity but throws in70s period stuff, leading to a feeling of disinterest in its setting.There were some funny moments in the movie, and I particularly likedCarrel's idiot weather guy. And Applegate was good, although her moreintelligent performance clashed with Ferrel's cartoony one. Watchableif you've got nothing better to do, but that's about it.

wgeddings 2012-04-23 02:32:21

Disappointing considering the rave reviews..

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. I loved Elf and OldSchool. I enjoy movies like EuroTrip and Bad Santa as well as moremainstream comedies (I mention this so you know that I do like comedies). Iwas excited when I saw the cast list and then when I started reading all ofthe rave reviews, I was really excited to see this movie! I even waited abit so my wife and 2 children could go too since everyone said it was aconsistent laugh fit. Well, they were apparently watching a differentmovie. Ferrell is good but not great. Steve Carrell is a scene-stealer as always. The rest of the cast is very hit or miss (except Fred Willard on the phoneabout his son) and the jokes just aren't there. I thought that maybe I wasjust too excited about seeing it but the rest of my family had not been asexcited and shared the same impressions. There were a few interesting scenes (one with "sex panther" cologne and oneinvolving "pants tents" that I am amazed I have never seen used before tothat extent) that really did make me chuckle but they were few and farbetween. Much of it, such as a news team "rumble" was just weird and neverreally got funny. I have re-read some of the reviews and just do notunderstand why they saw it so differently from us. One small defect in our viewing was that the sound and the picture were justslightly out of sync (words did not match the mouth movements) but it wasbarely noticeable and I do not believe it really effected my opinion. Iwish I had not taken my children (13 yrs old) to it due to a few commentsand scenes but if it had been really funny, I would have overlooked that. You will have to judge for yourself but I urge you to not just assume it isgoing to be the great movie others are claiming it is.

boots-15 2012-04-22 16:03:03

One of worse movies ever

It was disgusting, not funny, and bathroom humor. I found not one laughline in the whole movie. I cannot imagine why so many people liked thistrash. I would have rated it lower than a "l" but one was the lowestchoice. I do not call words like "shit" funny. Anyone with any brainsand no talent can write lines like that. I kept waiting and waiting forthe funny parts. They never came. I'd have enjoyed myself more byhitting myself on the head with a hammer. It was one of the worsemovies ever. If one had a mental IQ under 80 you may have loved thismovie. I cannot understand why any actor would associate him or herselfwith such trash. I don't think Hollywood could write a funny movie likethey used to anymore. How about Groudhogs Day, Funny Farm andOverboard? Now they were funny movies. Slapstick comedy is not funny tome. Do not waste your time renting this movie. It was recommended to meby another person. I will never ask their opinion again.

beav33-1 2012-04-16 07:40:38

Horrid

I had heard good and bad reviews of this film so I went in with no hugeexpectations. Thank God! I couldn't imagine how much worse of anexperience it would have been if I expected anything... such as laughs!Will Ferrell is heading down a slippery slope if he keeps doing garbagethis bad. Honestly with a cast this good (Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn) Iwould have expected a few laughs. Even the cameos from Luke Wilson andothers were as lame as it gets.Also has Christina Applegate done any good work...ever? She seems subSci-fi t and a material to me.I hope that Will Ferrell enjoys the millions...please invest it welland never subject your fans to this type of garbage again.

mike-1682 2012-04-15 10:30:05

With no apology - this movie is lame.

Will Ferrell comes across as a babbling idiot who is absolutelydesperate for approval - his jokes varied between funny to odd to justplain crazy.I found the movie to be inconsistent and only marginally funny. Thetheatre I was in was half-empty so the jokes that didn't go over weremet with stone silence. I did hear a few snorts of disdain through themovie.The scene where Paul Rudds character talks about naming his penis andtesticles is just plain strange. The character himself isn't horribleand the scene about the men's cologne is pretty funny (reminded me ofold Hai Karate commercials for those of you old enough to rememberthose).David Koechner as the sportscaster was irritating and I don't recallhim having a single funny line. His best scene is where he's a ragdollfor a bear - as for the bearpit scene itself I find myself asking whois Ferrell's audience? 10 year old boys who are amused by makingfarting sounds with their armpits?Christina Applegate - I like her and don't think she gets nearly enoughwork. This movie is not going to help her career. I had hoped that asthis is a movie about gender "war" that the main female character wouldbe well written. Will Ferrell is content to leave the Corningstonecharacter 2-dimensional and the character's behaviour is completelyunpredictable. Why were there no other female characters of anyconsequence in this movie? It's about the emergence of the women'sliberation movement in the 70's forchrissakes! You'd think they'd findroom for women in the script. What we get is Christina Applegate inminiskirts and eminently forgettable lines.The background - the 70's. Great idea - poorly realized. Ben Stillershomage to the 70's in Starsky & Hutch did a much better job. Do youthink they could have tossed in a few more baseline references to setthe tone - how about trotting out Ronald Reagan (he was Governor ofCalifornia) - and there were no references to movies of that era - onereference was to Planet of the Apes (but that's a 60's movie). OK - Steve Carell's character got some great lines and his comic timingis superb. He did have me laughing out loud and Ferrell used thecharacter very well. Vince Vaughn was good and should have had morescenes - but his final scene at the bearpit made me squirm it was sobadly written (what can an actor do with lines like that??)The "rumble" scene was ridiculous, the "down & out" routine was sillyand the whole thing doesn't deserve more than a 5 out of 10 in my books(and that's due solely to Steve Carrel - otherwise I'd rate it muchlower).American cinema needs an "Alpha" Comic badly and Will Ferrell isn't it.