Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013) – Review

Review: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a glorified gag-reel, very funny in moments but without much of a satisfying story. The film finds Ron Burgundy and his wife Veronica Corningstone in New York City reading national network news. However, everything changes when Veronica is promoted to primetime and Ron is fired. Ron cannot handle it and blows up his marriage, retreating back to San Diego where he falls further into a state of despair. After a few months of spiraling anguish, Ron is courted by Freddie Shapp, a news producer charged with finding talent for a new 24-hour news channel Global News Network (GNN). Now, Ron must reunite his news team and reestablish himself as a newsman, in the hopes of winning back his family.

Actor-writer Will Ferrell and writer-director Adam McKay made a name for themselves in feature films with Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Thus, it was probably only a matter of time before they eventually found their way back to the character(s). With Anchorman 2, the comedy team has made a film that seems to exploit all the jokes of the first film taking them to the excess, priming fans to gorge themselves. The jokes that resonated the most with fans in the first film have been exaggerated and squeezed for every possible bit of funny still left in them.

The characters too have ballooned. They were already caricatures to some extent, but here they have become parodies of themselves. Everything that fans loved about them has been mined to completion. Yes, a lot of the material is very funny but overall it is just a barrage of comedy with any and every joke being flung at the audience, hoping some will hit (but many miss).

It is almost too much really. The sole purpose of the film seems to be rehashing all the old jokes, while sprinkling in a few new ones, in an effect to play on the nostalgia of fans (while still giving them some new great and memorable lines). To this end, the film is very successful, as ultimately there are many really great jokes and moments that carry the film (really, there are so many jokes and types of jokes that everyone will find at least a few parts and lines very funny).

But as a narrative film, Anchorman 2 is pretty weak. The story seems like an afterthought – nothing more than a mechanism to get from one set of jokes to the next. And while the main purpose of the film is to make fans of the characters and first film laugh again, one might hope that the filmmakers would still consider a sound story and narrative structure a priority (as the first film does have a good story which the jokes are built upon). Yet, that is just not the case. Without a solid foundation, no matter how funny the jokes are, the film just feels like a lessor entity (which is too bad).

Following in the footsteps of The Newsroom (though, not to quite the same extent), Anchorman 2 does do a decent job of shaming the farce that is America’s current news programming. It is not subtle about it either, clearly pointing out how news has become about entertaining rather than informing. It is nice to see that the film has some higher aspirations and social awareness.

All in all, though, Anchorman 2 is still a worthwhile endeavor, even with the somewhat nonexistent plot. The great successes of many of the jokes (winning over the many that fall flat) make the film very entertaining, and probably a film worth returning to many times (much like the first), allowing the jokes to catch the viewer in different ways. And yet, it basically plays as not much more than a gag-reel with very funny people saying and doing anything and everything to get a laugh.

Technical, aesthetic & acting achievements: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay were atop the comedy world with films like Anchorman, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and Step Brothers, but their recent output has found them wanting. The Other Guys and now Anchorman 2 have prized jokes over story, when their past work managed to find the right balance. Yes, their films continue to be hilarious and entertaining, which to some degree is all one could really want from a comedy, but their weak narratives also leave them feeling a bit like throwaway comedies – films to be laughed at and then forgotten.

Composers Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau, cinematographer Oliver Wood, and production designer Clayton Hartley all do a good job of recreating the world and feel of Anchorman. The look and tone of the film are spot on, but really this film is just about the jokes.

The film is jam-packed with celebrity cameos (to varying degrees of comical success). Of these many cameos, Harrison Ford and especially John C. Reilly turn in very funny moments. Kristen Wiig is funny as Brick’s female counterpart Chani (but really, none of her stuff is among the film’s best). Meagan Good turns in what is probably her best comedic performance to date as Ron’s boss Linda Jackson. Christina Applegate is good again here as Veronica, as she balances her love for Ron and career drive. David Koechner was a bit of a one-note joke as Champ in the first film, and that is mostly true again with Anchorman 2, but his “Whammy!” catchphrase continues to be pretty funny. Paul Rudd has some great moments again, even if Brian Fantana is almost entirely relegated to reworking the same jokes from the first (cologne collection substituted for condom collection – though some of his lines in this bit are hilarious). Steve Carell as Brick is really the breakthrough character of the film, seeing an expanded role. And in this, Carell steals the film with many of the best comedy moments. He is brilliant. Will Ferrell is just so charismatic as Ron Burgundy. Even if he is playing the same jokes over again, it is hard not to watch him with a smile and a chuckle (which often grows to a roar).

Summary & score: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is everything fans could have hoped for comically/nostalgically – playing a bit like a greatest hits album, but as a narrative film it falls short. 6/10

The Other Guys (2010) – Review

The Other Guys is funny, at times – and mainly due to Will Ferrell – but not all the time, and not nearly enough. The film does not really have an identity that the audience can get behind and follow. Is it an absurdist comedy, a buddy-cop action comedy, a parody of the buddy-cop action comedy, or just a messy un-cohesive mixture of all these things? The film plays like a buddy-cop action comedy for the majority, but falters when it gets sidetracked by overplayed comedy bits (that often are not even funny) and genre parody that contradicts the themes and tones set in place in other parts of the film. For example, there is a sequence in which the two main characters go for a drink after a tough day. The scene is presented in a series of flowing stills throughout the bar depicting ever escalating events as the night goes on. This scene makes no sense in context to the rest of the film, thus alienating the audience from the characters and the narrative. There are cues that inform the viewers that really this is a parody, but then the next cue tells them no wait this is really a buddy-cop action comedy genre film, no wait this is a parody of the genre – director Adam McKay does not seem to know what film he wants to make. Worse, the main characters are poorly teamed (and this is the primary killer of comedy, things that would otherwise be funny do not play nearly as well when there is a lack of timing and interplay between the actors, which come from chemistry). There is almost no chemistry between any of the actors in the film, but especially between Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg – they just sort of yell at each other in varying degrees of volume and intensity and that is supposed to be funny. This lack of chemistry only compounds the issue with many scenes that do not work causing them to stick out even more.  The lack of identity leaves the viewer on guard, trying to decipher the language of the film rather than enjoying the jokes and the film. With no clear identity every plot point, action beat, line of dialog is questioned, thus the audience cannot fully invest in the film. On top of all the narrative issues, lack of chemistry and many suspect gags, the plot of the film is completely underwhelming. The audience does not even care about whether the plot is resolved or not, especially since they are not invested in the characters. The shooting style of the film is also odd. The film feels alienating like the viewer is an outsider the whole time. The action scenes particularly seem disconnected from what is on the screen and what the audience should feel due to the visuals. Everything is a bit off here. But, Ferrell has quite a few moments of hilarity. He is the only reason this film works at all. Any funny that this film offers is directly due to Ferrell’s work, despite all the problematic components. The film is disappointing given the talent involved (principally the collaboration between Ferrell and McKay, which have, up until this film, all been good). On the technical side, McKay is off completely directing this film. His narrative is an utter mess structurally, thematically and tonally – the audience has no idea what kind of film they are watching – and again it seems as if McKay has no idea what film he is making. He also completely fails to get his cast on the same page – nothing gels, there is no chemistry, and the result is a lot of funny people and good actors not delivering, and more importantly not coming together to provide a cohesive performance for the film. Michael Keaton for instance, alone, his performance is funny, but it is sort of abstract – a deconstruction of the buddy-cop captain character, but since tonally, the viewer does not know for sure if this is that type of movie, Keeton’s performance just seems sort of strange and does not really work or bring anything to the film (which is a shame, because this performance in the right film would be great). Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson give caricature performances of hero cops, but then this is turned on its head in a scene that sets the tone really for the whole film to be confusing (as you literally watch it and think, wait what is happening right now and why is this happening – and not because the plot is complex).  Rob Riggle and Steve Coogan have been funny in other films, but neither works in this (Coogan is almost anti-funny – scene killer). Ray Stevenson, who has been brilliant in other things (um, like Rome) is given nothing to do and is completely wasted. Jon Brion’s score is messy as well (not surprising given McKay’s direction). There are serious themes and then self referential nods to the buddy-cop genre that do not even work in the context of what is on the screen or has happened in the film. Oliver Wood’s cinematography (which is usually good) is awkward and disengaging; the audience never feels like a part of the film emotionally. And Clayton Hartley’s production design is adequate – though some of the locations are interesting. The Other Guys is a clutter-filled film of thematic and tonal chaos and plainly just does not work – however, there are a few bits that are very funny and Ferrell does some strong work. 6/10