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Matt Vs. Anchorman

The year was 2004 and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy was released in theaters. Starring Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Steven Carrell, and others it became a hit  that launched a thousand memes, jokes, and T-shirts.  It seems likes it was just yesterday when the original comedy shows local Anchor and lovable jerk Ron Burgundy broadcasting the news at sunny shores of 1970s San Diego rising, falling, finding love, and eventually becoming  slightly less of a lovable jerk. Now nine years later, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues hit theaters among lots of hype, excitement, and car commercials. Was it as hilarious as the original or did it collapse amongst years of hype and unrealistic expectations?

The story starts out with lovable idiot Ron being fired from his job due his on-air antics and his wife Veronica Corningstone being promoted to lead anchor. He then leaves his wife and son to become an alcoholic announcer at SeaWorld.  Following a suicide attempt, Ron gets a chance to redeem himself  with a news slot at an revolutionary 24 hour news network. Ron the reunites his news team of Brian Fantana, Champ, Brick, and his trusty dog Baxter and drives across the country to New York where the 24 hour news channel is located. The rest of the movie shows Ron trying to balance his new job, his attractive female black boss, and his estranged wife and son while keeping his hair sharp and news team together.

Overall I thought that the movie was pretty good and for being a big dumb comedy with plenty of celebrity cameos was surprisingly smart. Ron becomes a rating smash when he starts to sensationalize car chases, harp on patriotism, and pander to the lowest common denominator of entertainment.  He eventually becomes lead anchor of the network and even upstages his wife who was covering much heavier news fare. There were several fun pokes at CNN,  Fox News, and the Weather Channel as well as the current state of news media. The rest of the new team especially Carrell's Brick provided more than a few laughs. Fans would recognize several callbacks to jokes in the original film such as the jazz flute, playing off Ron's blustery personality, and a nonsensical fight scene but I was disappointed that Ron didn't remind us to stay classy. (The one joke that I was waiting for). As far as comedy sequels go, The Legend Continues is clearly one of the better ones of recent years. It wasn't a pure rehash of the original  like The Hangover 2 and gave a fun romp through Ron's late 70s early 80s world. Anchorman 2 will please fans of the original and provides quality laughs during this hectic Christmas season.
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