Cool News
Capone
SPOILER ALERT !!
Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Saw this one on Wednesday morning, and I’ll see it again next Monday night at the premiere. It’s worth watching at least twice, and I think it’s safe to say that the comedy of the summer has finally arrived. Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Dave Koechner, Paul Rudd, Vince Vaughn, Fred Willard, Christina Applegate, Adam McKay... these are just some of the names responsible for the absolute lunacy of this picture. I’ll write up my full review after Monday night, and I’ve got an interview set this weekend with Will, Adam, and Dave, and I’ll have that for you soon, as well.
For now, here’s our man in Chicago with his take on things...
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here. Pardon me one minute while I say a little prayer: Comedy Savior, thy name is Will Ferrell. Ever since I caught a hilarious glimpse of a roughly edited sequence from ANCHORMAN more than six months ago at Butt Numb-a-Thon 5, I have been craving this film. I caught Ferrell again recently portraying '70s news anchor superstar Ron Burgundy doing interviews on the MTV Movie Awards, and he had me cracking up again. This Ferrell kid could be going places, mark my words. Burgundy rules the roost at his San Diego television station. He and his all-male news team (including Paul Rudd as on-the-spot reporter Brian Fantana; Steven Carell as deadpan and possibly retarded weatherman Brick Tamland; and David Koechner as cowboy-wannabe sports announcer Champ Kind) live a life that bares a striking similarity to the parties thrown in BOOGIE NIGHTS, filled with beautiful women, hairy men, lots of booze, and Farrell in a Speedo.
The boys club fun comes to a screeching halt, however, when the station manager (Fred Willard) hires the network's first ever female reporter (this is the 1970s, remember) in the form of the lovely Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate, whose every gesture, look, and comic reactions seemed to deliberately mimic Jennifer Aniston; I'm not saying this is bad, just really weird). All of the men at the station hound her in various lame attempts to bed her, but it's the ultra-suave Burgundy that knows how to win her heart with a little help from his jazz flute, if you know what I'm saying...actually, I'm saying he plays the jazz flute in a night club. I don't know what you were thinking. Although Corningstone is given the lightest of light-weight news stories to cover (a cat fashion show, for example), the opportunity arises for her to fill in for Burgundy as the nation's first female news anchor and Burgundy flips, sparking an all-out battle of the sexes. Taking advantage of Burgundy's weakness of reading exactly what's on the TelePrompTer, Veronica gets Ron fired and his life takes an ugly turn at the bottom of a bottle.
Not surprisingly, just about every member of the newly dubbed Frat Pack shows up in ANCHORMAN, most played rival news anchors from other networks. One of the greatest scenes ever is the all-out news team rumble, where news teams from all over San Diego get into an old-fashioned, Warriors-like street fight with knives, bats, guns, pipes with razor wire wrapped around them; you get the picture. I also loved the performance by "The Daily Show's" Carell. Everything out of this guy's mouth was funny, even the stuff in the outtakes. Speaking of which, make sure to stay all the way through the credits; there's a nice surprise waiting for you at the end of this film. At the center of this homerun comedy is Farrell, who just gets better and more confident with each film. He and first-time feature director Adam McKay (who had made a few short films for SNL) have crafted such a solid script that even the less funny parts make you giggle like a school girl. My only criticism is the film's PG-13 rating. I know I harp on this a lot, but this movie approached the "R" line so often that to have jumped over it would have been sheer heaven. Still, hearing Burgundy replace what would have been foul-mouthed exclamations with expressions like "Great Odin's beard!!!" is just too priceless to give up. And the best news is that the DVD of ANCHORMAN is going to rock. In rewatching the trailer, I spotted at least five scenes in the trailer that we're in the film. Bring on the deleted scenes! Not having seen the HAROLD AND KUMAR film, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that ANCHORMAN will be the biggest comedy of the summer. It's certainly the best. The film opens July 9.
CaponeNice one, man. Thanks.
"Moriarty" out.
-
+ Expand All
-
I'd agree that this'll be number one.
-
I knew everything you just wrote from Trailers and online news already... Put away your boner for 10 seconds and tell us something palpable about this movie.
-
Jun 25, 2004 6:36:17 AM CDT
What, do you really want spoilers about the movie in the review?
by billbrasky2620
I'm kind of sorry I've read enough about it as it is. The anchorman fight, for example, is something that might have been a surprise in the movie but has already been spoiled by the trailer. The movie is FUNNY- that's all you need to know. Go see it, multiple times.
-
Jun 25, 2004 6:46:17 AM CDT
Are you f'n kidding me? "Not having seen the HAROLD AND KUMAR fi
by smarkjobber
You gotta be shitting me. Granted, I'd rather see "Kumar" than "Catwoman," but I'd rather see that POS "Day After Tomorrow" again than sit through "Kumar" a first time. The last "Anchorman" trailer is probably funnier than the whole of "Kuma" for f's sakes.
-
Obviously, by my name, I'm looking forward to this one. You didn't find anything in the trailer funny? Are you dead? Adding Will Ferrell to the "where are they now" column, along with Jack Black? Ummm....I think Jack Black is doing just fine, and people remember a little movie called "School of Rock." And you speak of low brow humor; I don't know if this is typical low brow humor...I think it's a bit smarter than that. But I suggest you get a group together with everyone else who thinks this movie will suck...and then the five of you can go watch whatever pleases you more.
-
Watch it do its magic...
-
That's for you Gilmore. A club needs to be formed of those of us who've read this thing. That's right, I said club. Funniest thing I ever read.
-
I didn't find a single laugh in any of the trailers for this film.
-
I saw Dodgeball the other night and it's the funniest movie I've seen in a very, very long time. Anchorman looks pretty funny, but is it as funny as Dodgeball ?
-
A match made in heaven.
-
I saw it at a screening wendsday and it's not funny! Like onyl a hand full of jokes work and everything else falls flat. A lot of the cool jokes from the trailer were cut from the film! I don't get why they did that. I really hope this movie flops, even though I am sure it won't but I hope it does because there are just too many stupid comedies lately
-
Funny how people who complain about "stupid comedies" always come back to the Talkbacks, the ultimate stupid comedy...
-
Paramount. Oh yeah, that's right, Paramount, purveyor of the shittiest DVDs in the land.
-
I think that the trailers have overall been pretty funny, although I'm not sure what the point of him thinking he can talk to his dog is. People seem to be splitting their sides over that one and to me it has absolutely no logic, internal or otherwise. Eh well. As for 'August Blowout'....well, hopefully Happy Gilmore, you're not the guy who reviewed the script on AICN so many moons ago. The thing sounded truly awful. Maybe I didn't "get it," but almost nothing seemed funny.
-
But for my money - Will Farrell is damn, damn funny. He never betrays his characters - never let's the audience in on the joke. It's honest and I find it gut-busting.
-
I've seen the TV ads, and I just don't get the hype.
"Ooh, look, Will Ferrell slams his head into a filing cabinet! Comedic genius!" -
Jun 25, 2004 6:28:25 PM CDT
Must be wonderful, if half the trailer was cut out of the finish
by mosquito march
When was the last time something like that was a sign of quality filmmaking?
-
...sort of. Sorry for tainting your rep, but this is an open forum. Will Ferrell is a very gifted comic performer, and when jokes don't work, it's not for his own lack of effort. Hearing him in prior interviews for movies like 'Old School' and 'Elf,' it's very clear that he puts a lot of work into his humor. I expect Ron Burgundy to be a fully-realized character, or at least as fully-realized as a character like Ron Burgundy can. Incidentally, what does one mean when they call Ferrell a "one-trick pony?" That doesn't make a whole bunch of sense.
-
Jun 25, 2004 9:03:14 PM CDT
Being a big fan of Farrel's humor, just the poster made me think
by i dunno
Maybe the movie's funny. If so, fire the trailer editors.
-
I saw the trailer for this thing and it looks as bad as "White Chicks."
-
Jun 28, 2004 4:41:18 PM CDT
If you haven't already, dig up the Anchorman soundtrack and take
by minderbinder
That was fucking hilarious, if the SOUNDTRACK has bigger laughs than most movies I've seen lately, I can only imagine what the movie is like. And what's with all the hating on the trailers? The one "serious" trailer is genius. Sounds like I'll want to see spidey more than once, but he'll have to wait until after Anchorman.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 325 total posts 322 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 106 total posts 106 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 63 total posts 60 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 74 total posts 58 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 159 total posts 51 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 47 total posts 41 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 161 total posts 34 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 488 total posts 33 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 121 total posts 23 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 70 total posts 20 posts