Saturday, February 26, 2005

“I’m gonna throw this out there; if you like it, take it, if you don’t, send it right back. I want to be on you.”—Ron Burgundy to Veronica Corningstone.

Crass and hilarious is Anchorman. We laughed out loud through the whole thing - my throat was sore from laughing. And the DVD extras were equally funny, with good bloopers included.

Will Farrell is a brilliant comedic actor - completely over the top, but he so inhabits his characters that you stop watching Farrell and become fascinated by the character himself, in this case Ron Burgundy. People in the film industry talk about layered characters - all of Farrell’s alter-egos are deeply layered. (You get the truer feel for how much these characters inhabit Farrell by watching the interview with Ron Burgundy in the DVD extras - how Farrell got Bill Kurtis to do that is a mystery. I’ve seen him do the same thing on Conan’s show.) The only other comedian I can think of who managed to live as his characters as well as Farrell does is Andy Kaufman.

As usual, let me point you to Jared’s review of the movie. He covers it all pretty well.

Anchorman is smart and sweet and, above all, hilarious. If you like Will Ferrell, if you “get” Will Ferrell, if you find Will Ferrell’s brand of characterization funny, more than likely you will like this movie. If not, it’s not for you, I bet. The humor is crude at times, but there is a sweetness behind it all, an acknowledgement that this is not how real gentlemen are supposed to behave. If you’re inclined to see it, I could not recommend Anchorman more highly.

I give this one 3.5 stars out of 5.