Written by Luke Kalamar & Lauren Stern
Plot: The San Diego news team takes on New York in a big way by joining Global News Network (GNN), the world’s first 24-hour television news station.
Great Odin’s Raven! The long-awaited Anchorman sequel has finally arrived! It’s been a long nine years since we last saw our favorite San Diego news team, and with the massive amounts of promotion, one would assume that they wouldn’t be as funny this time around. While comedic sequels do have a bad reputation, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is proof that lightning can strike twice. Not only is this movie hilarious, it’s the perfect follow-up to what many people regard as one of funniest movies of all-time.
The movie picks up right when Ron Burgundy’s (Will Ferrell) life is going down. After his wife Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) gets promoted over him, Burgundy loses his precious primetime anchor job and leaves his marriage in a fit of rage. This inevitably causes him to hit rock bottom. By the grace of God, a man named Freddie Shapp (Dylan Baker) comes to him with the opportunity of a lifetime: to work for the world’s first 24-hour television news station. Burgundy initially laughs it off, but a large paycheck brings him to the Big Apple. Of course, he can’t go without his all-star news team of Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Champ Kind (David Koechner), and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell).
Eventually the team comes to New York and meets the people behind GNN. This is where we get our first look at the sequel’s villain Jack Lime (James Marsden). Lime is a big hot shot that has been given the primetime slot on GNN while Burgundy and his team get the graveyard shift. This eventually changes when Burgundy and his team destroy Lime in the ratings. Burgundy and his team also meet their new boss Linda Jackson (Meagan Good), which caused a funny scene where the team tried to come to terms with the fact that their boss is a powerful black woman. Burgundy’s awkward and uncomfortable reaction later changes to love as the two form a relationship. This was short lived as Burgundy realized towards the end his family was more important than giving the American public the news.
Aside from the humor, our favorite parts of the movie centered on ideas that were enhanced from the original film. We loved the return of Brian Fantana’s Sex Panther, the Anchorman brawl, and most especially the quirks of Brick Tamland. The spotlight on Tamland was really what made this movie shine, especially the relationship that formed between him and GNN receptionist Chani (Kristen Wiig). Watching the two of them meet and interact with each other were definitely some of our favorite parts of the film.
Although we overall enjoyed the film, there were a few aspects that we could have done without. While there were some funny one-liners, we thought that the portion of the movie where Burgundy goes blind was so out of left field. We also found the dinner scene between Burgundy and Jackson’s family to be more uncomfortable than funny. These scenes are the very few that were dragging points and could have made the film a lot more condensed if removed.
If you’re hesitant to go see Anchorman 2, don’t be. Nearly everything about this movie works. It not only is an excellent follow up, it’s easily one of the funniest movies of the year. This is definitely a movie we’ll see multiple times in the future just like with the original film. There are plenty of quotable one-liners too so be prepared to hear more of those in the years to come. Long live Ron Burgundy!
Rating: 9/10
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