‘Anchorman 2’ does Ron Burgundy justice
Comedy sequels rarely live up to the original movie, especially if the first one became a cult favorite. The typical formula is to just repeat the exact same plot with a few subtle changes here and there. Thankfully, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues manages to avoid sullying the good name of our beloved Ron Burgundy.
The sequel sees Ron (Will Ferrell) happily married to Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) and raising a young son. Ron and Veronica work together, co-anchoring the national news in New York. When network changes leave Veronica running the show and Ron out of a job, his news-reading life is saved when he is scooped up by a brand new 24-hour news network, GNN.
Of course, where would Ron Burgundy be without his news team? With his marriage in shambles and a new career opportunity on the horizon, Ron goes on a journey to reassemble the gang and take the 24-hour news world by storm. He finds sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner) managing a fried chicken chain that might or might not actually be serving fried bats for cost cutting purposes. Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) is a photographer and buddies with a sketchy group of future celebrity murderers (allegedly) including OJ Simpson and Robert Blake. Dim bulb Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) is dead—well, not really, though we do see him giving a eulogy at his own funeral.
Once the band is back together, they all head to New York, only to find that they’re not the top dogs at the new network. Instead, they’re bested by Jack Lime (James Marsden) and given a crappy late-night shift instead of primetime. While there may be undertones of the famous Wes Mantooth (Vince Vaughn) rivalry, Ron’s battle with Jack is little more than a side plot. Much more attention is paid to his relationship with his ball busting boss, Linda (Meagan Good). Interracial relationships were quite uncommon in 1980, so his constant acknowledgement of her race—coupled with a scene in which he tries to bond with her family over dinner—results in a lot of material for Ferrell and director Adam McKay.
Anchorman 2 manages to take the formula of the original film (rivalries, the question of what constitutes news, a complete emotional breakdown and even a fight with a wild animal) and avoid feeling like a rehashed or forced effort. Even the Warriors-style news anchor brawl doesn’t feel like a failed attempt to recreate the magic of the first movie’s “bilingual bloodbath”. This time, we raise the stakes with cameos from Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sacha Baron Cohen, John C. Reilly, Jim Carrey, Liam Neeson, Harrison Ford, Kristen Dunst, Marion Cotillard, Will Smith and Mr. Kim Kardashian himself, Kanye West. Even the film’s thinly veiled satire of today’s infotainment-based news is never laid on too thick.
While Anchorman 2 isn’t as good as the first movie, but it’s still a surprisingly funny sequel to the much-revered original. Sure, it runs long at 119 minutes, and sure they could have cut out half of the scenes with Brick and his new love interest (played by Kristen Wiig), but this was one comedy sequel that didn’t leave me soured on the entire franchise, and that’s an accomplishment all by itself.
Note: This is a review of the original theatrical release, not the “extended” version—which is way too long and completely unfunny.
