Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013) review

In 2004, we were introduced to the legend that is Ron Burgundy, the anchorman from San Diego with ‘a voice that could make a wolverine purr and suits so fine they made Sinatra look like a hobo… in other words, Ron Burgundy was the balls’. ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’ is one of the best comedies from this last decade, mainly because it’s so quotable thanks to both its great cast and its great writing, although in reality most of it was actually improvised. But as for a sequel, that took a while to get going. At one point, Paramount even passed on a proposal for it, and it seemed like the project was officially dead… until now. It may be nine years since the original film came out, but everyone’s favorite news team is now back for ‘Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’. But can Will Ferrell and Adam McKay deliver a rock-solid follow-up to probably their best film together? After all, as films like ‘Hangover Part II’ and ‘Grown Ups 2’ have proven it’s fairly common for most sequels to hit comedies to be incredibly inferior to their predecessors. However, in the end, ‘Anchorman 2’ manages to be that rare exception. It may not end up being as good as the original, but it comes pretty damn close.

After the events of the first film, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) and his wife, fellow news anchor Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), are enjoying massive success in New York as co-anchors for one of the city’s prestigious news networks. However, things start to change when Ron is fired from his job, while Veronica is promoted to be the first female nightly news co-anchor, due to the fact that, according to famous anchor Mack Tannen (Harrison Ford), he’s one of the worst news anchors ever. This puts Ron in a serious depression for a few months until he is approached to work for a new network, GNN, which is set to be the first 24-hour news network. Ron accepts the job and rallies up the old Channel 4 news team to join him; field reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner), and meteorologist Brick Tamland (Steve Carell). Together, they hope to capture the former glory that they once had back when they worked in San Diego.

First, let me just say that like the original, this is a very goofy movie. There are plenty of ridiculous moments that occur in this movie that I don’t want to reveal for those who haven’t seen the film yet. If you can accept this film’s very silly tone, then you’ll have a good time with it and I will go on record saying that I did laugh consistently throughout this movie. Sure, as with most comedies, not all of the jokes were bull’s-eyes, but for the most part they worked very well. It doesn’t really feel like a repeat of the first film. Sure, there are certain callbacks to the original but it’s not like this is a note-for-note copy of the previous film. But this film, like the last one, wouldn’t have worked if it wasn’t for the outstanding cast. The returning players, Ferrell, Applegate, Rudd, Carell, and Koechner all fit back into their roles with ease even after nearly a decade and the camaraderie amongst them is top-notch, as it was in the first film. The new members of the cast, including James Marsden as a new rival for Ron and Meagan Good as the manager for GNN who becomes another love interest for Ron, are welcome additions as well.

I’m just going to come out and say it; 2013 has not been a good year for comedies. As of now, my list for the Top 10 worst films of the year includes 5 comedies, which is an unfortunate sign of the declining quality of today’s comedies. Thankfully not all of the comedies this year have been bad. If I were to name the two best comedies of the year so far, in a currently unspecified order, they would be ‘The World’s End’ and this movie. Which one is the best of the year? It’ll take a while for me to figure that out but one thing’s for certain; ‘Anchorman 2’ is one of the best comedy sequels ever, one of the rare films in that group that manages to be almost as good as its predecessor. It may not end up being as funny or quotable as the original, but it is still very funny even though not every joke hits and is just as goofy as its predecessor. It may have been nearly a decade since ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’ came out, but Ferrell and director Adam McKay succeed at continuing the story, although I think the idea of another film is a little too much.

Rating: 4/5