Over winter break I was able to see a movie that many have been anticipating for years. The original Anchorman movie debuted in 2004. The movie was a raging success with its lead Ron Burgundy played by the great comedian Will Ferrell. The movie is arguable one of the most quotable movies of all time. I would be shocked if someone could come away from this movie without multiple gems being stuck in his or her head. The movie can be found in almost any Wal-Mart or best buy in the classic or greatest hit sections. The idea of a sequel came as a shock to many people including myself. It is not often that sequels are split by almost ten years but Anchorman 2 has done that by reassembling the original cast in its entirety and even including some of the minor guest characters.
Anchorman 2 had it all and was quite different from the first one. The first major difference is Anchorman 2 never stops making you laugh. For a one hour and fifty-nine minute run time there are a lot of jokes and not all of them are hits. While many of the jokes are incredibly clever and witty manipulations of wordplay there are also the complete slapstick stupidity jokes throughout. This frustrated all my friends and I who went to see Anchorman 2 in theatres. My prime example of this was the interactions between Chani and Brick, who are played by Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig, very famous actors. The movie though was still hilarious throughout and I can’t remember a time I laughed as much as I did in this one.
Anchorman 2 in a lot of ways is a more over the top regurgitation of the first film. The news team battle from the first movie comes back this time with a more diverse and celebrity overtaken version with the likes of Kanye West, Will Smith, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Harrison Ford and many other huge names in showbiz. Something also repeated from the first movie is a fight with a powerful animal that ends the film with Baxter the dog saving the day. In the first film it is a bear and in the second it is a shark that was Ron's pet. Another repeated idea is the discrimination of a female character. In the first one it is all about sexism and mocking Veronica Corningstone and in the second one it is about Linda Jackson. Linda is Ron's boss, and is a powerful black woman in the workplace. The film laughs at this fact with over the top jokes about interracial sex and Ron just repeating “black” over and over again upon meeting Linda. Also, a scene with Ron meeting her family is full of discriminatory comments.
If you are a big fan of the first film, it is a must see. While it is not as quotable as the first one, it still will keep you laughing with its all-star cast. If you aren't a big fan of the first film, this film might not be for you as it is similar. My overall rating would be 7.5/10.
