Our Rating: 3.00
Will Ferrell could be funny reading the 9/11 Commission Report, but don’t tell him: His script choices are dodgy enough already. Enthusiastic but nakedly scattershot, Anchorman casts the well-liked SNL alum as a 1970s newscaster sent into a tailspin by the hiring of a female co-anchor (Christina Applegate). The role allows Ferrell to revisit his best character type – a buffoon who takes himself completely seriously – resulting in newsroom burlesques that are often funnier on screen than they must have been on the page. It’s the kind of movie that makes you laugh despite yourself, its inconsistent dummheit redeemed by a try-anything approach that somewhat transcends the usual aura of a TV sketch stretched to feature length. This one resembles a TV sketch stretched to feature length and directed by the Zucker brothers, which certainly qualifies as an improvement.
This article appears in Jul 7-13, 2004.