Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Director: Adam McKay
Screenplay: Will Ferrell & Adam McKay
Stars: Will Ferrell (Ron Burgundy), Steve Carell (Brick Tamland), Paul Rudd (Brian Fantana), David Koechner (Champ Kind), Christina Applegate (Veronica Corningstone), Dylan Baker (Freddie Shapp), Meagan Good (Linda Jackson), Judah Nelson (Walter Burgundy), James Marsden (Jack Lime), Greg Kinnear (Gary), Josh Lawson (Kench Allenby), Kristen Wiig (Chani Lastnamé), Fred Willard (Ed Harken), Chris Parnell (Garth), Harrison Ford (Mack Tannen), Bill Kurtis (Narrator)
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Year of Release: 2013
Country: U.S.
Anchor Man 2: The Legend Continues Blu-ray
Anchorman 2: The Legend ContinuesAs the title informs us in appropriately over-the-top fashion, the legend does indeed go on in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, which picks up the story of Will Ferrell’s absurdly self-possessed newscaster Ron Burgundy, who, having conquered the world of local TV journalism in San Dee-ah-go, is now doing his thing on an even grander scale in the Big Apple. The year is 1980, roughly seven years after the events in Anchorman (2003), which means that the film is still free to mine the atrocious clothing and hairstyles of an earlier era, in this case the dawn of the Reagan years. Social and political attitudes have improved only slightly, so there is still plenty of opportunity to comically deploy the characters’ racism, sexism, homophobia, and general paranoia about anything that doesn’t smack of old-fashioned white-bread masculinity. And, like the first movie, Anchorman 2 works largely on the strength of its bizarre, logic-be-damned comedic energy and expect-anything string of verbal and visual gags. It goes on a bit longer than it probably needs to, but the humor hits more than it misses, resulting in only a few sluggish places in a film that otherwise repays with great dividends its audience’s desire to revel in nonstop absurdity with just a dash of genuine social satire.

When the film opens, Ron Burgundy, still fully mustachioed and largely unaware of his own incompetence, is anchoring the news next to his wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), who he has learned to accept as his equal—that is, until she is offered a coveted spot on the nightly newscast and he is fired by the network’s legendary newscaster Mack Tannen (Harrison Ford). Ron, unable to cope with this blow to his ego, can’t bring himself to support his wife, so he leaves her and their preadolescent son Walter (Judah Nelson), quickly bottoming out as a drunken announcer at Sea World (in the first movie, it took nearly an hour and a half for Ron to bottom out; here he does it in the first 15 minutes). The potential for redemption arrives in the form of Freddie Shapp (Dylan Baker), a smooth-talking producer who is about to debut the Global News Network (GNN), a 24-hour cable news channel, the idea of which Ron, in his imminently overconfident and ignorant way, dismisses as the dumbest idea he’s ever heard.

Nevertheless, the offer is too good to refuse, and soon Ron is driving across the country in his RV to reconvene his fabled news team: sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner), who has opened a chain of fast-food chicken restaurants; reporter-at-large Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), who has made a lucrative career as a cat photographer; and weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), who is believed to be dead until he shows up at his own funeral to eulogize himself. Yes, just when you thought Brick couldn’t be any denser, it turns out that he’s so dumb he doesn’t even recognize that he’s living and breathing. Luckily, Brick finds a soul mate in Chani Lastnamé (Kristen Wiig), a secretary who is as brain deficient and socially awkward as he is.

The screenplay, co-written by Ferrell and returning director/co-conspirator Adam McKay, piles on the subplots and conflicts once Ron and his news team arrive at GNN’s New York offices and find that they have been given the graveyard slot, while the prime time hours are going to Jack Lime (James Marsden), an incredibly handsome young anchor who immediately becomes Ron’s nemesis. Ron also finds himself at odds with Linda Jackson (Meagan Good), the network’s head honcho who is doubly threatening to Ron’s self-image in that she’s a woman and she’s black. However, just as Ron learned to respect women in the first movie (well, at least a little bit more than he did before), he discovers that skin color doesn’t really matter (well, sort of ...).However, he does not learn the importance of taste and discretion, as his success at GNN owes entirely to his willingness to subvert important news in favor of shallow sensationalism, which gives the film a sharp, if only temporarily deployed, critical edge. Instead, the story ultimately hinges on Ron trying to win back Veronica and reconnect with Walter, a move that is complicated by Veronica’s ponytailed therapist boyfriend played with perfectly tuned soft-spoken condescension by Greg Kinnear. If it were at all possible to take Ferrell’s character seriously, one could accuse the film of going soft and mushy, but its family values message is ultimately just as ridiculous as everything else.

Fans of the first film will find much to treasure here, as Ferrell and McKay have clearly taken notes on the elements that made Anchorman into such a beloved cult film among its rabid fanbase. Thus, we get even more non sequiturs, misplaced masculine bravado, and borderline surreal comic antics, including a climactic news brawl that dwarfs the original’s in terms of both scale and Huh?-quality unbilled cameos. At the center, as always, is Ferrell, who continues to mine his special gift for turning unforgivably egocentric cads into likeable boobs whose lack of self-awareness makes their worst qualities seem like endearing quirks. Ron Burgundy is certainly one for the ages, and while Anchorman 2 doesn’t quite live up to what we might expect after a decade-long wait, it’s only fair to say that probably nothing would.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD Combo Pack
This three-disc set contains three versions of the film: the original theatrical version, an unrated version, and a “Super-Sized R-Rated Version”
Aspect Ratio2.35:1
Audio
  • English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround
  • French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
  • Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround
  • Subtitles English, French, Spanish
    Supplements
  • Audio commentary by co-writer/director Adam McKay, producer Judd Apatow, and stars Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and David Koechner
  • “Behind-the-Scenes: Newsroom” featurette
  • Gag Reel, Parts 1 & 2
  • Line-O-Rama, Parts 1 & 2
  • “Welcome to the Dolphin Show” featurette—Ron Burgundy takes on the crowd
  • “Catfight” featurette
  • “News-O-Rama” featurette
  • “Kench-O-Rama” featurette
  • Cast Table Read
  • “Anchorman 2: The Musical” featurette
  • “RV” featurette
  • “Baxter & Doby” featurette
  • “News Fight” featurette
  • Deleted scenes
  • Extended and alternate scenes
  • Previsualizations: RV, Shark Attack, and News Fight sequences
  • Auditions: Meagan Good, Dylan Baker and Amy Poehler
  • “Benefit for 826LA: ‘Spoiler Alert’” featurette
  • Trailers
  • DistributorParamount Home Entertainment
    SRP$39.99
    Release DateApril 1, 2014

    VIDEO & AUDIO
    Ron Burgundy would be proud of how good he looks in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues’ first-rate 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation on Blu-ray. The image’s detail is stunning throughout, which benefits the film’s often packed visual schemes and its attention to the nuances of late-’70s/early-’80s clothing and hairstyles. Color is beautifully rendered, and the image maintains a nicely balanced presentation. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1-channel surround soundtrack handles the film’s frequent use of period rock music with notable aplomb, although like many Blu-rays I have encountered recently, the music is turned up substantially louder than the dialogue. The soundtrack also does a nice job with the film’s big sequences, whether it be the crashing of the RV rollover or the clashing weapons of the big news brawl at the end.
    SUPPLEMENTS
    Hardcore fans of the Anchorman films will be kept plenty busy with this three-disc release, which features not one, not two, but three different cuts of the film. There is the 118-minute PG-13 theatrical version, a 122-minute unrated version, and then an astounding 143-minute “Super-Sized R-Rated Version,” which the jacket boasts as containing 763 new jokes. To be honest, I haven’t watched the whole thing, much less counted the number of new jokes, so I’m going to have to take them at their word. The Super-Sized Version is a substantially different film in that it adds tons of new footage but also utilizes alternate versions of scenes from the theatrical cut.

    Once fans are done plowing through the different versions of the film, they can stay up late indulging all the various supplements. The unrated version features an audio commentary by co-writer/director Adam McKay, producer Judd Apatow, and stars Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and David Koechner. It is mostly a jokey affair, with lots of rambling and joke-cracking and not much in the way of genuine insight into the making of the film, although they do share some amusing production anecdotes. In addition to the commentary, there are multiple behind-the-scenes featurettes, several gag reels, and the ever-popular “Line-O-Rama” featurettes that compile a ton of alternate line readings, some of which are even funnier and weirder than what made the final cut of the film. There is also footage from the initial cast table read; a number of deleted, alternate, and extended scenes; trailers; and even previsualizations of the film’s more effects-heavy sequences (the RV rollover, the shark attack, and news fight). And, for fans of Jack Black who may be wondering whatever happened to his motorcyclist character from the first film, there is footage of him singing a special song he composed for the sequel at a benefit for a nonprofit writing and tutoring center that addresses that very question.

    Copyright ©2014 James Kendrick

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    All images copyright © Paramount Home Entertainment

    Overall Rating: (3)




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