Warts and all the legend continues; even if ole’ Ron Burgundy has to reinvent himself to see it so. Hello moviegoers, Will Ferrell is back in his most infamous role as oblivious San Diego newsman Ron Burgundy. The rest of the main cast Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Christina Applegate, return as well reprising their roles from the first film.
‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’ (2 sweet potatoes out of four) Stars: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Meagan Good, James Marsden; Director: Adam Mckay; Genre: Comedy; Rated: PG-13; runtime: 119 minutes; opens Wednesday, December 18th.
Ron is fired from his broadcasting job by his mentor Mack Tannen (who’s played Harrison Ford). His wife Veronica Corningstone (played by Christina Applegate) with whom he shared co-hosting duties is promoted over him and things unravel from there, Ron Burgundy style. With no job and no girl, Ron is at a point that’s so low that he paid a hobo, once.
Producer Freddy Shap (Dylan Baker) takes a chance on Ron and in 1980 he is offered the opportunity to be part of the first 24hr cable news channel GNN. Ron doesn’t think it’s a good idea. Actually, he thinks it’s much worse than that but after some convincing he rounds up the rest of the old crew Brick Tamland (Carell), Brian Fantana (Rudd) and Champ Kind (Koechner) and they descend on the Big Apple.
New on the scene at GNN, it doesn’t take long for professional rivals and in office relationships to come about. In the latter situation Ron’s girlfriend Linda Jackson (played by Meagan good) has him meet her family for dinner in what turns out to be a very interracially aware, but not all that funny, scene. The former pits Ron against GNN heavyweight, Jack Lime (played by James Marsden) in an office bet to see who’ll get the better ratings. Stuck with the graveyard shift, and under pressure to produce ratings, Ron wonders out loud why the news has to be news, and why not just tell people what they want to hear – and a star is born.
With ratings records in hand, Ron transforms the cable news industry overnight and elevates his now rock star status. One bar patron even yelps with the excitement that might accompany a new discovery, “when did the news get awesome!” Ron rides a wave of success until a freak accident gives him a different perspective on things. If you think the movie couldn’t get any sillier, look out.
Toss in an exotic pet and fancy dinner recipes in between Ron Burgundyisms, not to mention the burgeoning cable news turf war which features maybe a dozen cameo appearances by Hollywood A-listers representing every outfit from BBC News to ESPN, the History Channel and many more wanting a piece of the action and it does get sillier.
Anchorman 2 is silly and wacky and Ron Burgundy, but I didn’t think it was much fun. This satirical send-up of the anchorman and the birth of the twenty-four news cycle is fine but this one seems uninspired.
I give “Anchorman 2: The Legend continues” 2 sweet potatoes out of four. This has been your resident moviegoer and I will see you after the movies at moviegoersview.com.
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