ViewGuide

Created Dec 22, 2013 11:04PM PST • Edited Jan 18, 2020 07:57AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Good 3.0

   The Legend Continues and so do the laughs. Unfortunately so do the gaffes, which way outnumber the LOLs, driving the gaffe-to-laugh ratio well above 1. That’s far from great, even if some of the bits are truly great. Yes, you’ll laugh YAO early & often enough, so one can say The Legend Certainly Continues.

   It doesn’t help that Ron Burgundy is not remotely sympathetic: a racist, misogynist, heartless, mindless jerk — an MSNBC caricature of White Male Privilege come to life. Will Ferrell’s harmless doofiness nearly rescues his greatest creation, but doesn’t entirely succeed. His is a bold failure, but a failure nonetheless.

   Instead, it’s the support of his News Team that rescues the movie, especially Steve Carrell’s autistic weatherman. Even better, Carrell meets his match in Kristen Wiig’s kindred spirit. Their daffy love story brightens the movie considerably and delivers several well-earned howls of laughter.

   The satire becomes extremely farcical at the end when a bevy of big names face off against each other in a dada-esque battle of cable news: ESPN vs. BBC vs. History Channel vs. CNN (GNN in the movie). That’s smart and plenty meta, but hardly enough to elevate Anchorman 2 to greatness. Stay classy Ron Burgundy.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy is all over the media these days. Unfortunately his major league presence isn’t backed up by his moviestar performance, where his comedic batting average is decidedly minor league. Perhaps 20% of his jokes triggered LOLs from my opening weekend theater full of Ron Burgundy fans. Many of the others landed with an uncomfortable thud. Oops. OTOH…

   Steve Carell’s autistic weatherman is another brilliantly inspired comedic creation from the Great Carell, on par and of a piece with his Dinner for Schmucks. Kristen Wiig matches him in offbeat comedic brilliance. Together they make the movie worthwhile.

   Paul Rudd’s lady’s man reporter is genially funny, but not LOL funny. David Koechner’s latently gay sportscaster isn’t funny at all.

   Christina Applegate is solid once again as Mrs. Ron Burgundy, but she’s nothing more than a straight-man. Same with Meagan Good, as the smoking hot exec-producer in charge of Ron’s new newsroom.

   Secondary Supporters

   • James Marsden more than looks the part of pretty-boy news anchor. Funny? No.
   • Dylan Baker’s news producer is one more straight-man in a comedy that arguably has too many.
   • Judah Nelson is cute as Ron Burgundy son, who stays 7 years old while several years of his father’s story rolls past. Kid’s name should be Dorian Gray-Burgundy.
   • Harrison Ford’s legendary newsman has more than the required gravitas. If only they could have built some legitimate LOLs off of that.
   • Fred Willard is always funny. Always.
   • Greg Kinnear is an understated hoot as a sensitive other-man.
   • The big names who represent Cable News Doppelgängers include Sacha Baron Cohen, Kirsten Dunst, Tina Fey & Amy Poehler, Liam Neeson, Vince Vaughn, Will Smith and Kanye West. Smith is the best. It helps that he gets to represent ESPN, the greatest cable news network of them all.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    Touches the supernatural, as Adam McKay and Will Ferrell films are wont to do, giving the young dudes who favor an action movie with their comedy. That much is pretty cool, better in this latest McKay-Ferrell installment than in their last few, The Other Guys being a low point.

    Unfortunately the Gaffes outweigh the Laffs, making for an underwater Laugh-to-Gaffe ratio. Oops. FX don’t make up for the copious clankers and stankers. Nonetheless…

    Fans of the BurgMan are free to indulge their Burgundian delight in The Legend Continues. Many consider its origin – Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy – to be a high point in comedic cinema. They will find A2: TLC a great accomplishment. “By the hymen of Olivia Newton-John!”

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

12. Play OK 2.5

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.5

    3.4 on the Rudeness scale far outweighs 2.4 on Sex and 1.6 on Violence. Just how Will Farrell likes it: talking junk but not doing it.

17. Sex Titillating 2.4

18. Violence Fierce 1.6

19. Rudeness Profane 3.4

21. Reality

    Surreal 3.0

    Surrealistic money-bag of a comedy movie, fully 3X on PhysioReality and 3X+ on BioReality, each dwarfing the mere 2.5X CircoReality. CircoReality is the low budget way of doing a comedy movie. Making a movie that’s 3X Physical and 3X Biological costs money. Big Money. Anchorman 2 cost $50 million to make. Serious FX was involved, three dozen stuntmen too. That’s how you touch the supernatural.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.5

23. Biological Supernatural 3.4

24. Physical Surreal 3.0