Tee hee hee – what a fab film. And actually a surprisingly nice film, given the ripe language, and adult theme. So often films leave a nasty taste in the mouth, but Anchorman.. well I’m sitting here typing this with a big smile on my face!
The story follows Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) as the head honcho news reader in Channel 4, but the boat is well and truly rocked by the beautiful and – gasp – female Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) arrives. This film was never going to be deep, and once or twice had me gsaping “I can’t believe they just did that”.. for instance drop-kicking a dog off the San Diego bridge! Don’t get me wrong – it’s comic-book violence that is in no danger of realism, but still a bit shocking, in a funny way.
The escalating war between Ron and Veronica is very good, as is the deadpan delivery of all the jokes, and the ending, although soppy and predictable, does redeem the whole film.
Actually the whole redemption theme plays heavily in the second half – Ron’s life loses his meaning when he loses his job, and only comes back when he’s made an anchor again. He’s prepared to sacrifice himself for the woman he loves (even though she betrayed him), and at the end of it he’s a better person.
This is not a classic though, and although it might just survive a second viewing as I suspect there are some more background or subtle jokes I missed, it’s probably not worth buying. And for all the deeper themes, it remains a definte “Friday night with beer and curry” film.