“Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” will be at its 20th anniversary in the summer of 2024 and it’s a period piece about the 1970s and takes a look at the stereotypes in local television news and its on-camera “stars” of the day. So, the film stands the test of time and remains a classic, hilarious comedy that just about everyone has seen. Still, there’s much to appreciate about “Anchorman” with multiple viewings … and I don’t just mean the clips of such memorable lines as “… boy, that escalated quickly” or “Go f*&^ yourself, San Diego.”
‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’
(2004; 94 minutes; rated PG-13; directed by Adam McKay and starring Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd)
EVERYONE WATCHED THE ANCHORMAN ON TV
If you go back 20 years for “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” you’ll find a classic comedy with a completely A-list of comedy stars … although not all had yet found their way to the top of the heap (or near the top) when it was released – but all would be so by the end of that year or the next. “Anchorman” is simply excellent comedy, but it’s even better if you’re old enough to appreciate what was on the tee-vee news back-in-the day.
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Stereotypes displayed by each character in “Anchorman” are piercingly accurate from title actor Will Ferrell’s total self-absorption as the lead anchor on the news each night to the rest of the crew – from Paul Rudd as the thinks-he’s-street-smart reporter (“Brian Fantana” as your early-model Geraldo Rivera); to David Koechner as the hackneyed-phrased sports anchor (“Champ Kind” saying “Whammy!”) to Steve Carrell as the intellectually challenged weatherman “Brick Tamland” (he doesn’t have a trait to put into parentheses). Each of them, except maybe “Brick” believes he is intelligent, but all are as intrinsically dumb as we newspaper reporters and editors knew them to be back-in-the day. The movie even manages a perfect mocking of the promo for the news team as it marches together and then stares into the camera.
In “Anchorman,” the story revolves around a San Diego television station that introduces to the news team – GASP! – a woman, Christina Applegate as “Veronica Corningstone.” Of course, she’s better at news than “Ron” and “Brian” and is, naturally, better than “Ron” at being an anchor on the evening news show. Yet of course, she’s beautiful as well as smart, but is shut out of the “boys club” at the station.
You get everything from slapstick (a battle royale street fight between competing newsroom staffs – “… boy, that escalated quickly …” – to Jack Black in a small role of a biker kicking “Ron’s” dog off a bridge) to basic verbal comedy (when “Veronica” is told “Ron” will read anything on the teleprompter, she changes his signature sign off of “You stay classy, San Diego” to “Go f*&^ yourself, San Diego” and, of course he says it on the air and it’s fall-down funny).
You’ll have to sit through the lame storyline with “Anchorman,” but it is worth it to watch all these actors have fun with their roles. Here’s a rundown of the top of the cast …
- A two-time Golden Globe nominee and two-time Pimetime Emmy Award winner (and six-time Emmy nominee), Ferrell, who is today in the hyper-popular “Barbie” movie of 2023, is just pitch perfect as the self-absorbed, confident TV newscaster and title character “Ron Burgundy.” He offers just the right amount of personal density to pull off being egotistical, but also someone who actually shows himself to be human. Like other of Ferrell’s efforts (take “Step Brothers” with John C. Reilly or “Semi-Pro” with the talentless hack Woody Harrelson), you might have to watch “Anchorman” twice to get it all in. Ferrell is prolific in comedy across all broadcast forms from video games to movies (“Blades of Glory” or “Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby”) to his biggest canvas of television (“Saturday Night Live,” “30 Rock,” “The Office” or late-night comedy shows to voicing on cartoons such as “SpongeBob Squarepants”) to just the plain strange such as “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” or playing the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward in “Dick.” He was nominated for Globes for “The Producers” and “Stranger than Fiction” and nominated for Emmys for “Succession” and “Dead to Me” as well as for writing on TV events including the Rose Bowl parade and a “royal wedding” special. His Christmas film “Elf” is also hyper popular – except with me. I won’t watch it … he’s too annoying in that one.
- A four-time Golden Globe nominee and five-time Primetime Emmy nominee, Applegate simply becomes “Veronica Corningstone.” She’s intelligent; she’s tough; and she can play with “the boys.” However, her character is the only one that appears settled in real life. The others are stereotypes, while she is the “real” person. Applegate deserves a “pitch-perfect” grade, too, and doesn’t disappoint in any way. Of course, she was the idiot daughter on TV’s “Married With Children” and was nominated for TV’s “Jesse,” “Samantha Who?” and “Dead to Me.” After “Married With Children,” I enjoyed her work the best in “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead.”
- A Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Rudd is another pitch-perfect in his role with the character of TV reporter “Brian Fantana.” He believes he’s cool because he’s “streetwise” (that’s in his mind) and a man the ladies can’t resist (in his mind, too). Rudd, even with his “Brian Fantana” moustache, is an outstanding comedic actor, especially with over-the-top efforts, such as “Knocked Up,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” (click here for my review) and one of his little-remembered but solid efforts with “Role Models” (click here for my review). His characters are often “mopey” and look at themselves as downtrodden, but not the “Brian Fantana” character. Rudd has dived head-first into the superhero genre of film as “Ant-Man” with four films with that character and the next rumored to be in pre-production (I haven’t seen any of them and won’t since I don’t enjoy such films – they’re worse than Westerns). Rudd was nominated for his work on the TV show “Living With Yourself.”
- An Oscar nominee (not for this one) and five-time Golden Globe nominee, Carell as “Brick Tamland” is pure, stoical fun. The film is even non-politically correct when Carell says in an early look at the camera that his IQ is borderline retarded. Well, we simply can’t use that kind of joke today, can we? In any case, Carell’s character winds up making a clumsy pass at “Veronica” and has both a hand grenade and a trident in a street fight with the staff members of opposing newsrooms. He is simply marvelous in his clumsy, idiotic way. Still, Carell was at the height of his comedy career with “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” (the body-waxing scene will leave you incapacitated), but it took more acting skill to be “Brick” than anything he did, including TV’s “The Office.” He was nominated for “Foxcatcher” and, in addition to his Globes nominations, was a five-time Primetime Emmy awards nominee (four for “The Office”). You don’t get much better in comedy than Steve!
- David Koechner plays “Champ Kind” and his character is the only one that doesn’t need to be mocked. He plays the “sports anchor” as the sports anchors were back-in-the-day to a T(-ball)! Koechner is another who is pitch-perfect in the role (pun intended) and he does his character with aplomb and just the right touch of verve. Koechner had one of the best small roles ever with “The 40-Year-Old-Virgin” (click here for his clip) and I liked him even better as the spokesman for the gun lobby in “Thank You for Smoking” (click here for my review) or as “Cooter” in the movie version of “The Dukes of Hazzard” (click here for my review). He has done every type of comedy in every type of medium you can experience and you’ll never be disappointed with an effort by him. It’s totally incomprehensible that he hasn’t won (much less nominated) for a major acting award. He deserves it and he has 213 acting credits (with four in production on the date of the original posting of this review) over a career spanning four decades since the first in 1995.
As for the supporting cast in “Anchorman,” only Fred Willard as “Edward ‘Ed’ Harkin,” who is the TV station manager is worth mentioning. He’s caught between the “talent” he has on the air and the coming revolution of women in the newsroom in roles other than “light-hearted” stories. As usual, he does a wonderful job with the small role and makes you remember him after you finish watching “Anchorman.” Willard, who earned five Primetime Emmy nominations, notched an incredible 319 acting credits in a career spanning seven decades that began in 1966. His last credit was a podcast broadcast two years after his death. Willard died at 87 of a heart attack in 2020.
Along with Jack Black, there are other “name” actors in small roles in “Anchorman” including Ben Stiller as “Arturo Mendez,” who is the leader of the Hispanic station’s news team in the street fight; Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson as other competing newsmen; Seth Rogan and Danny Trejo as, respectively, a station employee and a bartender; and another actor whose name you know, but he is a talentless hack and I won’t even mention him by name (he’s the leader of the public broadcast team in the street fight). Overall, though, there’s not much room after the top of the cast for notable performances.
“Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” was the 27th ranked film at the U.S. box office with $85.2 million in ticket sales in 2004, according to Box Office Mojo. Coming in at No. 1 was “Shrek 2” with $441.2 million; at No. 2 was “Spider-Man 2” with $373.5 million; and in third place was “The Passion of the Christ” with $370.2 million. Here are the other films from 2004 that I’ve reviewed for my blog:
- “After the Sunset” (truly awful effort) – click here for my review
- “Shaun of the Dead” (among best zombie flicks) – click here for my review
- “White Chicks” (hilarious Wayans brothers) – click here for my review
Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):
- Ferrell’s dog in the film is named after the TV anchor character “Ted Baxter” played by Ted Knight on the even-more legendary comedy “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” from TV.
- Directly from IMDb.com: “The Mexican restaurant Veronica visits with the girls from the station is named ‘Escupimos en su Alimento.’ In Spanish, that means, ‘We spit on your food.’”
- Maggie Gyllenhaal auditioned for the role played by Applegate. Thankfully, the best actor got the job. Maggie is as bad as Katie Holmes from a no-talent perspective and it would have been a travesty for her to be in the film.
- Another good move in casting was not to have Ron Livingston in the film instead of Rudd. I have a better opinion of Livingston’s talent when compared to Gyllenhaal’s lack of one, but casting him as “Brian Fantana” would have been as much a tragedy as having Maggie as any character in the film (she shouldn’t have even been a stage hand for the flick).
- Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Though the exact year in which the film is set is not stated, the fact that the characters know all lyrics to the song ‘Afternoon Delight,’ and Champ’s offhand ‘Gene Tenace’ reference on describing his excitement for sports probably places the time in mid-1977, Tenace’s first season with the San Diego Padres.”
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