San Diego fictional icon Ron Burgundy is back as his infamous legend continues this week in Anchorman 2. With his news crew of misfits and rejects, Burgundy travels to the Big City circa 1980 to take on 24hr news, and himself since he’s probably the worst person in the movie. Neglectful, racially insensitive, sexist, ignorant, and selfish are all accurate descriptions of main character and “protagonist” Ron Burgundy, all together making him a pretty terrible person to be around. It may have been entertaining the first time around, but Anchorman 2 just plays the same jokes on repeat and gets worse and worse as it drags on.
I’ll state ahead of time that although I wasn’t a fan of Anchorman (2004), I by no means hate it or think it’s a terrible movie, it’s just not for me and that’s fine. The question must be asked though: did the Legend need to continue? Many of the jokes from the first movie are recycled and poorly executed the second time around. Even peripherally, the new characters introduced are easily forgotten right afterwards.
Christina Applegate returns as the now neglected wife of Burgundy and mother to a son who’s also largely ignored. Contrast to the first film, where Applegate was a fierce up and coming reporter in a mans world, here she plays a woman constantly at the other end of Burgundy’s sexist remarks with a smile and a roll of her eyes. The back and forth of an independent woman facing off against a sexist idiot is missing from their chemistry.
The Action News Team hasn’t changed over the 6-8 years between movies, and neither has their jokes. Every punchline is hit or miss, relying on saying the most absurd or obscene thing they can think of at the time. Much of the story feels slapdash and loose, even for a comedy. It really wouldn’t be surprising if there was just an outline of a story and the actors instead improved all of their lines.
The lack of forethought might even be forgivable when it comes to the scenes with Meagan Good, Burgundy’s African American boss who is somehow struck with insanity and falls for the at the time single Ron. His obvious uncomfortableness plays tolerable for a comedy, and considering the character that it’s coming from, but later when he’s invited to meet her family, he falls short of wearing black face in order to “assimilate” with the family. The line had to be drawn before “crack smoking bitches” was ever uttered.
Other than un-apologetically being sexist and racially insensitive (I don’t think the actors, crew, or anyone involved in the movie was being racist, just ignorant in an attempt to make comedy), most of the jokes have little relevance to what’s happening in the scene. Instead, like previously mentioned, it’s just the most absurd response that can be uttered on the fly. Even the references to the 80’s fell flat since most of those things had yet to happen.
To briefly give the gist of the Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues story, Ron, Veronica, and young son Walter have been living in NYC for an unknown amount of time where Ron and Veronica are co-anchoring the news. Veronica’s professional natural and dedication to the news earns her a big promotion, while Ron’s old antics earn him a deserved pink slip. The success of his wife is too much for Burgundy to handle, so he leaves his wife and son to become a miserable drunk back in San Diego.
Given a last chance to get back on the news and redeem himself, Burgundy pulls his crew out of retirement to head back to NYC and be a part of a new 24hr news network called, GNN (Global News Network), run by a character that mixes Rupert Murdoch with Richard Branson and played by Josh Lawson. There by accident, Ron Burgundy invents the sensationalist news style that we see much of today, all style and no substance. This causes rifts between him and his friends, further rifts between him and then separated wife Veronica, and enough distance between him and his son that it could apply for its own statehood.
Ron’s shining star eventually falls hard, leading to a boring redemption. The highlight of the film comes afterwards and is absolutely made by the cameos, which overflow in a news battle royale that recreates and exceeds the original, with Liam Neeson, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kanye West, Harrison Ford (which falls super flat), Marion Cotillard, Vince Vaughn, Sasha Baron Cohen, Will Smith, and John C. Reilly as the Ghosts of Stonewall Jackson. Yeah it’s that kind of crazy.
Beyond how disappointing the movie was is how well it will inevitably do this weekend in the box office. To each their own, but this is just low brow comedy at its worst and shines poorly on our culture as a whole. I admit fully that on the Movie Issues Podcast I am notorious for making low brow, dirty, and shocking jokes. The difference is I acknowledge it, occasionally apologize for it, and sometimes show you a real person. Keep in mind that I too am also a character, but I don’t have the luxury of a script, the time for retakes, or any training at all. What I do have is the sense to not beat a dead horse.
Mainstream entertainment should strain to set an example for thought out, clever humor that earns our money instead of dumbing down a nation. Go ahead and curse, make dirty jokes, and push boundaries, but those boundaries are not limitless. Have some class, Ron Burgundy.