Genres

Visitors Review

Bill Slocum 2012-05-24 22:23:42

Here Now The Outtakes

Could "Anchorman" have been funnier had it been allowed to stretchitself out beyond the two-hour limits of a commercially-minded comedy?Here's a chance for us "Anchorman" lovers to find out.In "Wake-Up Ron Burgundy", we see San Diego's Channel 4 news team inaction once again. Ron (Will Ferrell) struggles with love and jealousyas co-anchor Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) achieves herdream of big-time success. Meanwhile, their little world is threatenedby the emergence of the incompetent but very radical terror cell whocalls themselves "The Alarm Clock". When Veronica is captured by thisgang, it's up to Ron and his buddies to save the day.No use getting too excited about that long-discussed "Anchorman"sequel: This is strictly outtakes from the first movie, with someclever editing disguising the fact that Ron and Veronica are meetinghere once again for the first time. Better you think of this as analternate-reality "Anchorman" than a real sequel.Narrator Bill Kurtis puts it in perspective in his opening narration.What we are about to see, he explains, is "the chaff from the wheat,the skim from the milk, the pudding from the all-you-can-eat lobsterbuffet, and the surgeon guy from Prince and the Revolution."What "Wake-Up" really is is a chance to see Ferrell and hisco-writer/director Adam McKay working even more of their creepy-funnycomedy vibe. Scenes in "Anchorman" could stretch on a bit, but madetheir point. Here, they stretch on beyond that point, then stretchfurther.Ron needs a moment to compose himself on-air while reading a tenderstory about a Japanese devil owl, then another, and then another. "Alot of emotion here," he says, tearing up.A creepy mentor figure, Jess Moondragon (Chad Everett) pops up to offerno meaningful advice for Ron, but plenty of lustful rumination on whathe'd like to do to Mother Nature - "things you can only do in Bangkok."Such scenes work as goofier riffs on ideas from the first film, butwith a rub. Watching Ron and Veronica's awkward first date a secondtime isn't so killer with a long sequence showcasing Ron's drivingskills replacing his mastery of the jazz flute.Because it's all outtakes, however skillfully put together, there'sstory gaps galore and rehashed gags from the first movie with slightlydifferent blocking. The Alarm Clock angle works in bits, but is toothin to serve as a framing device. The character build-up that made"Anchorman" so immersive is shortchanged here. Most of that made thefirst film.Fans of Champ Kind (Dave Koechner) will enjoy the wild man acting evenwilder here; one moment he's a raving homosexual, five minutes laterhe's a raging cannibal. Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) lunches on usedcoffee filters. In addition to Everett (his send-up of the serenelysleazy Moondragon aided by a strong late-career resemblance to ClintEastwood), there's a brief killer cameo from Stephen Root as a fill-inanchor.Like I said, it's all sweet stuff if you're an "Anchorman" lover. Butit's definitely not the sleeper classic "Anchorman" has become. It'sdefinitely more self-indulgent in its humor and fitful in itsdirection. "Wake-Up" shows that in addition to being frightfullyclever, the people behind "Anchorman" had a lot of sense in where totrim.

JohnZoidberg 2012-05-24 08:54:42

Ummmmmmm...

Look, I loved the PROPER Anchorman film, but this was reaaaaallly bad.The kind of bad that makes you wish you could get that time back inyour life, the kind of bad that makes you think "what on Earth werethey thinking to film this in the first place", the kind of bad thatmakes you wish you'd taken 50 more minutes when stepping into thekitchen to grab a snack during the film, the kind of bad that makesleprosy look fun, the kind of bad that makes you think you wish yourented a Pauly Shore film instead....seriously, I cannot explain howvery bad this was.Having said that....there were some semi-amusing laughs, but they areall so much LESS funny than Anchorman. Sure, they tried to make itentertaining and fun, but the entire subplot that was left out ofAnchorman that made it here was genuinely left out for a goodreason...it wasn't even a little bit good.Do yourself a favour (or in the USA, a favor), and don't watch thisDVD...it will tarnish the good movie that Anchorman is and you don'twant to do that.Okay...I'm alright now.

Ace_of_Sevens 2012-05-14 03:24:33

Very funny, but doesn't make a lot of sense

Wake up, Ron Burgundy is allegedly made of deleted scenes fromAnchorman, but while it's obvious how some scenes fit into the moviesuch as Ron's dangerous driving here leading to the parking scene inAnchorman, there's no way most of this would have ever fit. I assume alot of last-minute re-shoots were involved.Some elements work. The Alarm Clock gang is hilarious. They are a groupwith political goals, but seem unclear on what they are and lack anysort of grand plan. The bit with Amy Poehler as a bank teller whorefuses to give them any money because they are so inept as bankrobbers is one of the best in the movie. Justin Long as Ed's sullenteenage son, Chris, and Chad Everett as Jess Moondragon, Ron's mentorwho won't shut up about how inappropriately he loves nature, also havesome 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 reallycome together. To some degree, this is to be expected in a movieassembled from deleted scenes, but it's more than that. The jokes gettoo much narrative priority, often leading to things that just don'tfit in the context of the movie. Veronica Corningstone's personality isall over the place and Champ King's moment in the car goes on way toolong, even though it starts well, for instance. This really hurtssuspension of disbelief as it never really establishes any rules toplay by.This is a serious problem, but I'm giving the movie a 6 anyway, mainlybecause 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 attemptsto explain the manifesto. In short, this is a great way to presentdeleted scenes. It isn't a great movie.

twiztidhomeboy 2012-05-13 18:25:01

Top movie!!! (if you are a REALLY big fan of Anchorman)

I just saw this the other day and felt compelled to write a review!This movie is most certainly not one to watch if you haven't alreadyseen Anchorman:The legend of Ron Burgundy, but if you have, and youloved it (I do!) then this is a truly welcome addition.The story comprises of a sub plot intended for Anchorman that wasdropped (presumeably because it wasn't that good) involving a terroristorganisation called "The Alarm Clock" hence the Wake up Ron Burgundy!title. The Alarm Clock are easily the worst terrorist group in theworld having no political agenda, and not really knowing what they aredoing, end up kidnapping Veronica Corningstone to use her to broadcasttheir as yet undecided political statement. So it's up to the rest ofthe intrepid news team to save her.There are some truly hilarious bits in this film, one where Champ Kindis professing his undying love for Ron in the car but everyone pretendsthey can't hear him is very funny, and another where we learn that theseemingly stupid Brick Tamlind was in fact the leader of a group ofsoldiers in the Vietnam war with the other news team members is veryfunny.All in all, it's one for the fan boys, not for the people who didn'tlike Anchorman, and it's only a bit of a laugh anyway, it was never atheatrical release.9/10

Skellington64 2012-05-05 01:43:34

Pretty Good, But similar

When I picked this up I was looking for a brand new Anchorman adventurebut I found a new version of the Original. It follows the same basicstoryline Ron and Veronica fall in love, Brian, Brick, and Champ areall jealous. But with the addition of Alarm Clock, A group trying tobring the truth to San Diego, and a few never before seen parts , Likewhen Ron and Veronica jump on the table and Ron screams "Lets make aBaby!" or when Ron gets shot saving Veronica's life, that are prettyfun, Its funny and almost as good as Anchorman. Since it comes packedwith the Unrated Anchorman, Its a pretty good buy. It also has some newSpecial Features, Such as Rehearsals and Cast Auditions, and it alsoreveals more about Champ's obsession with Ron. Gross! I give it an8/10!

BanyardGuy99 2012-05-04 03:37:43

Superior in some parts to the original film, but Overall....It was Better than the First...................

First off, this is a very funny sequel. Even though it isn'ttechnically a sequel, actually it is some cut footage from the originalversion of "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy". I have to admit,this is somewhat superior in parts to the original. There are even someparts of the film that make me wonder why they were cut out in thefirst place. There are some stand out scenes that are absolutelyhysterical (Champ, admitting his secret love for Ron, The Cannibalismscene with 7-Eleven & Burger King seen in the background). This istruly a work of Monty Python-esquire satire. This plot of alarm-clockbandits is MUCH, MUCH better then the panda plot in the original. It'sa wonder why the director and studio felt the need to change the plotfrom this to the panda sub-plot. I HIGHLY, recommend "Wake Up, RonBurgundy"!

lepgre 2012-04-27 01:55:57

Nice follow up

fans of Ron, brace yourselves, because he's back. While the movie lacksdirection (since it was put together on such short notice) the channel4news crew is as funny as ever, and we can ask ourselves why some ofthese outtakes didn't make the first cut. For example the scene wherethe crew is stuck on the mountain and almost resorts to cannibalism ishilarious, and Brick remains the same street smart guy in a world henever made. Although we miss guest star appearances from "frat pack"members, Ron Burgundy is as proud, macho and funny as ever. At somepoints though, the cuts seem really fake: they show scenes from thefirst movie with added narration to cover the new subplot, which, bythe way is awesome because it gives up the "rip the lid" sequence,which is probably the funniest in the movie.This film is a must see for anyone who wet his pants watching"Anchorman".

movieman_kev 2012-04-26 09:03:27

ho-hum

A collection of Deleted scenes and alternative takes, edited togetherand with added voice-over to make it appear to take place after theevents of the first. Pretty cool idea, but deleted scenes are left onthe cutting room floor for a reason and this is further proof. As it'sjust not as funny as "Anchorman", and really let's face it THAT filmwasn't exactly comedy gold either, so you get a 'movie' worse than onethat was moderately funny. In my eyes that STILL puts it one or twonotches above "Kicking and Screaming", or "Bewitched". Chross yourfingers that "The Wedding Crashers" is a return to old school form (nopun intended) My Grade: D

bpeccora 2012-04-26 11:56:01

Hilarious

I don't understand how you could bash this movie. OK it is not as funnyas the original movie but for Anchorman fans this is a must see/have.Ithas its moments where you can't help but laugh at the stupidity. RonBurgundy, Brian Fantana, Brick, Champ, and Veronica are all extraoutrageous. Slapstick humor at its best. It even comes with Ron'sleather bound diary. This movie has generated many new lines that myfriends and I habitually throw out in everyday life at each other.Don't act like you're not impressed. The only problem with this is themovie is sold together as a package, raising the price. I wish theywould sell it separately

nodpresion 2012-04-25 21:07:14

this was the original film

I'm not sure why so many people on all sorts of different sites keepclaiming this is some sort of hodge-podge thrown together after the"original" this is the original ... it was even spotlighted onentertainment tonight ... yrs ago ... they showed the scene where roncomplains about the font during their preview of the film and theninterviewed Christina about working with will this movie was screenedfor test audiences and bombed ... i mean - its in the Voice-over at thebeginning of the film ... they tell you right up front what this movietruly is ... the original that bombed ... they then took the bits thatworked ... the romance between ron and veronica ... the breakdown ofthe gang when ron spends more time with veronica ... the "bond" thatchamp has with ron its a totally separate and original film - and ireally think it does a better job of capturing the 70s news vibe ...less silliness - the gang fight - the flute solo - baxter gettingpunted - those are all very funny ... but got away from what the titleclaimed to be i know its not fitzcarraldo - but i think there's abetter story in this version

itoaster99 2012-04-21 07:48:39

Worth seeing, if you liked the original

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

2012-04-21 01:47:34

Feels like what it is

Dont get confused, this isnt a sequel to the movie "Anchorman" which was one of Will Farrell's best movies. All this movie is every deleted scene from the original movie put together like a movie.Director Adam McKay has a habit of making enough deleted scenes with sub plots to make a full lengh movie.In the original, there were 2 planned main plots, a Panda giving birth along and Veronica/Ron situation. Then there is the unused plot of a group of Bank thieves called the "Alarm Clock". There were a ton of deleted scenes to go along with the plot and some even cancelled out other scenes in the movie if they had gone with that plot.It could have been a good movie, but the movie felt more like watching the deleted scenes. There were no transition into some scenes. Heck most of the scenes were deleted parts of a scene in the original. The plot is told to be after the first and yet the scenes tell you otherwise...that its the same movie but with different scenes. Same plot as the original.-Ron is the #1 anchor in San Diego-Veronica starts as a small reporter and gets to do the news-They hate and then love each other-Ron does something to get fired and looks like a bum-All this while a plot is going onIn the begining we learn Veronica is out of town at an award show as an anchor but really its deleted scenes setting up for her first appearance.This movie had potental but it wasnt that all good. Watch it if you mustPros:-A somewhat new storylineCons:-Actually felt like watching deleted scenes-A lot of factoral errors, claiming some scenes happened much later then they actually are-Basically its the same movie as the original but with different scenes-Most of the scenes are deleted parts from the original

BigHardcoreRed 2012-04-20 19:51:15

This Was An Innovative Way To Show Deleted Scenes And Alternate Takes.

As I am sure most of you know, Wake Up, Ron Burgundy was compiledcompletely of deleted scenes and alternate takes. Some are saying it isa sequel to Anchorman, but it feels more like an alternate movie. Thesame things happen to all the characters, but in different ways. All ittook was a narrator to piece together the scenes on the cutting floorand there you have it, another movie! Wake Up, Ron Burgundy is obviously not as good as Anchorman, due to thefact that most of the best scenes made it into the original movie.However, it is an awesome supplement to the original movie, completewith it's own set of special features. It even has it's own deletedscenes. Considering the movie is all deleted scenes, they must have hada ton of extra footage to pull together a project like this. If themovie had to stand on it's own, I would not rate it very high, but forwhat it is, I give it about a 6.5/10.

2012-04-19 22:20:42

Wake Up Ron Burgandy

This review is from: Wake Up Ron Burgundy (DVD) DVD was shipped fast, would do business with again. DVD was in amazing condition. A++++

Collin Souter 2012-04-11 12:44:41

Sequel? Remake? Call it whatever you will. It's still funnier than most movies out there in actual theaters and a nice gift for the fans.

Lawson 2012-04-10 15:47:21

Probably not of any interest to a non-Anchorman fan.

Anchorman was my favorite Will Ferrell movie before Blades of Glory, soever since I learned of this DVD "movie" years ago, I had wanted it.However it was unfortunately only available as a bonus disc to theoriginal movie and not readily available on region 1, and it wasn'teven released on region 3. Hence I was quite happy to finally buy this(with Anchorman) in Oz.Was it worth the wait? Yes, and no. I hadn't known beforehand that this"movie" was made of various cut extended scenes and deleted scenes andsuch, and so it's not quite as coherent as a normal movie. Still,there's effort put into the cutting and pasting, and the result isindubitably more fun (and easier) than watching the individual scenesas standalones the way they are typically relegated as in DVD bonusfeatures, which I don't even bother to watch, usually.So yes, I'm quite happy that I got this DVD, but I doubt it would be ofany interest to anyone who didn't like (or watch) Anchorman. 6

The Gryphon 2012-04-06 23:28:44

The faux commentary is the best part

I loved "Anchorman; The Legend of Ron Burgundy" and hoped this would bejust as funny, but alas, it wasn't. Some bits are excellent though. Ithought the sports guy, Champ Kind, professing his love for RonBurgundy in the car filled with the other members of the news team washilarious. Everyone is ignoring him and he just gets louder and louderand finally kisses Burgundy which doesn't get acknowledged either. Buton the whole the story doesn't gel. It's a noble attempt, however, tosalvage the unused bits from the first movie, including an entire plotabout some pretty benign would-be domestic terrorists called "The AlarmClock." Maya Rudolph of Saturday Night Live is one of the members andhas a couple of funny lines, but basically this unused plot line hasgood reason to be unused in the first movie. The extras on this diskare pretty good, with the best two being the filmed rehearsalsfeaturing lots of improv comedy, and the faux commentary with WillFerrell and an "exec producer" who Ferrell discovers early on was noteven 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 andpretended to be a producer. It's some pretty funny stuff though andgoes on for about 10 or 15 minutes

C_Hardrick 2012-04-06 08:54:43

Wake Up, Watch This

I will be truthful. It was not as good as the original anchorman, butit was still good, in it's own way. The continuing story of RonBurgundy and his girlfriend Veronica. This time, Ron goes toofar....again. Veronica sends Ron on a mission to a fake newscast. Thefun discontinued though, after Veronica finds out that Ron could bedead. She begins to worry, and goes out by herself, looking for him.All of the news anchors end up kidnapped. And afterwards, when they arefreed, Ron and Veronica fall in love again. This movie deserves thesame recognition that its predecessor, "Anchorman" had. It may not havebeen the same caliber as the original, but is just as fun when it comesdown to the story. I laughed, I cried, I loved it. 10 out of 10.

sean-mayo 2012-04-06 08:14:53

Wake Up Ron Burgundy deception

I loved anchorman but this movie made me really upset, it was terrible,there was no point in putting this movie together through alternatescenes and deleted scenes, it was only funny to the people who made themovie, I understand that they thought it would be funny, but it reallywasn't. I am a huge fan of the work that all those guys do , but i justdidn't really understand the point for that movie. I laughed once andthat was at brick. I was expecting a whole new movie, i guess i wasn'texpecting what i saw. I wouldn't write this sort of thing if i didn'tthink anything was wrong. I also thought going into watching this "newmovie" as it is presented, that it was actually a new adventure.

SublimeCDS 2012-04-06 02:06:22

A must for Ferrell fans... and especially for those who were begging for more of the news team...

This film is definitely worth checking out if you were a fan of thetheatrical film "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." This featureseems to be made of cut footage from the first movie, including acomplete alternate ending for the original film. In many ways, thissecond ending makes more sense from a writing standpoint, as manythings that are introduced early on in the script (that are funny ontheir own, don't get me wrong) come back in the dramatic conclusion.The only flaw in this feature is that it tries to pass itself off asequel, instead of cut footage, and it doesn't quite work. Then again,if you can suspend your disbelief -- that concept becomes pretty funny,as well.Chock full of great material from Will Ferrell, this film also givessome more screen time for Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, and David Koechner.Justin Long (Dodgeball) even makes an appearance.Great stuff... although it starts to raise the question - how muchmoney did they spend on this movie? Enjoy folks!Goulet.