While Anchorman 2 is easily the funniest movie of the year, for me it didn’t live up to the lofty expectations I had for the sequel to one of the greatest comedies of all time.
Now let me be clear--Anchorman 2 is a very funny movie. There are even a handful of scenes where the movie reaches the kind of hysterical heights the original established. It just doesn’t stay there consistently.
Anchorman 2 picks up years after the first, when Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone are the number one news team on TV. However, when Veronica gets a big promotion and Ron loses his job, things take a turn for the worse. Ron Can’t handle it, and so begins a downward spiral that is only halted when a new opportunity comes along that reunites Ron with his original Channel 4 news team. The gang are invited to become part of a 24-hour news network called GNN. Ron gets the band back together and head to the Big Apple, where as you might imagine, things don’t go exactly as planned.
Will Ferrell feels born to play Ron Burgundy, and Paul Rudd (Brian Fantana), Steve Carell (Brick Tamland), David Koechner (Champ Kind) and Christina Applegate (Veronica Corningstone) don’t miss a beat slipping back into their roles. It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since the original, as the cast makes it feel like ten months. There are also some amazing cameos that I will not spoil, but rank among the best moments in the entire movie.
But, as I said earlier, the movie is very funny overall, and it’s great to see everyone back. Wiig and James Marsden are both excellent additions to the cast, and that’s part of the problem--it’s just an embarrassment of riches, and there’s no way to get everyone their screen time.
If anything, I was reminded that the Anchorman universe is one that deserves to be explored more, as there are great stories waiting to be told for many of its characters. And after waiting ten years for the sequel, I’m not sure there was any way it could have lived up to the original. Sort of makes me wonder about Dumb and Dumber To, as it will be 20 years by the time that sequel arrives in late 2014.
4 out of 5 This Just Ins