It’s been a long time coming for the return of Ron Burgandy, but with the recent release of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, the 2004 comedy classic finally got its big sequel and it’s an instant laugh-out-loud hit. While it was never going to be quite as good as the breakout cult success of the first film, there’s no better praise we can give it than to say that if you liked Anchorman you’re going to be pretty happy with Anchorman 2.
The story sees Will Ferrell (The Lego Movie) return to his role as a successful and decadent Ron Burgundy, and Christina Applegate as his ambitious now-wife Veronica Corningstone-Burgundy, as they co-anchor a successful news slot in New York City. Their happy bubble is burst when Veronica is offered the prime time slot on the nightly news while big RB is fired for a number of on-air gaffs resulting in their split, leaving Veronica in New York with their overly sweet son and Ron with no option but to return to San Diego.
Pretty close to being down and out for good, Ron is saved from his own self destruction by an offer to be a host on a new 24 hour global news channel back in New York. Assembling his old news team of Brian Fantana, Brick Tamland and Champ Kind, Ron returns to Manhattan to duke it out with Veronica and return to his former glory, but when he returns he finds it’s not going to be as easy as he’d thought.
The story and script was written by Ferrell, alongside Adam McKay, similarly to the first film, and it makes for the perfect base on which the film is built. It’s far from a story just for the sake of it and it sets up a lot of the potential for comedy gold in the sequel, so on the whole it’s an impressive return for the writing partnership.
Will Ferrell is also in great form throughout the movie itself, crushing any fears about his character portrayal under a weight of comedy might and his well-heeled Chelsea boot. If you’d seen the spoof movie piracy teaser, you might have been fooled into thinking that he’d lost his Burgundy mojo, but within minutes of the opening scenes you know that it’s always going to be there for him whenever he needs to crank it up to 11.
The rest of the news team cast is also pretty impressive with Paul Rudd and Steve Carell (Crazy, Stupid Love) back on form as Brian and Brick and David Koechner just about holding his own as Champ. The dialogue and character interaction isn’t always as natural and uninhibited as it was in the first film, but there’s still a lot of uncontrollably funny lines from Ron’s three sidekicks with Brick the source of some of the best.
He’s boosted by perhaps the best new addition to the cast in Kristen Wiig as Brick’s love interest and dim witted GNN secretary, Chani. Equaling the dumbfounded weatherman portrayal of Carell, she puts in an abstract and brilliant performance as the two instantly take a shine for one another without really knowing how they’re supposed to go about starting a relationship. They’re amazing scenes and when Anchorman 2 is released on DVD they’ll be the ones that will never get old.
The role of Ron’s new Aussie boss and head of GNN is played by Josh Lawson and while he does an OK job, it would have probably been one hell of a lot better if the role had gone to Rhys Darby (This Way to Spaceship) of Flight of the Concords fame. The role seems like it was made for Darby and lacks a lot of potential as a result of the more serious portrayal by Lawson.
As well as the main cast there’s also a huge number of random cameos that make their way into the film. Everyone from Harrison Ford and Will Smith to Sacha Baron Cohen, Marion Cotillard (Macbeth (2015)), Kanye West, Jim Carey, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Poehler (Parks And Recreation), Liam Neeson and John C. Reilly (Guardians Of The Galaxy) put in a showing. Vince Vaughn (The Internship) is also back for a very short stint as Wes Mantooth, reprising the role from the first film.
Anchorman 2 takes the raw silliness of the original and throws it up to the next level. We don’t want to give too much away, but all manner of craziness finds it’s way into the movie, ranging from a shark and futuristic laser, to crack pipes and ice skating, giving the sequel more than enough easy laughs and confirming a certain element of self deprecation. However, hidden in and amongst the silliness is a good amount of smarter material that satirises the news industry and the corporate cut-throat world that it exists in, as well as the stereotyping that was even more pronounced in 1980s America.
The film also questions the nature of comedy by pushing the boundaries of the acceptable, inspired by the likes of Richard Pryor, Chevy Chase and Bill Hicks. Scenes get right over the edge, and it’s hard to decide where you fall sometimes, but there’s little left untouched and all of the material is slightly defined by well crafted character flaws.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a very funny film with a well constructed storyline to bring the news team back to the big screen. It’s on the edge comedy that’s also fairly easy to approach with some of the best comic characters in cinema history. Expect to laugh a lot if you liked the first film, but if you’re not into the sillier side of comedy or you’re a little sensitive to jokes that ask what you think is acceptable to laugh at then it might not be one for you.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues review: 4.1/5
