Damn you, Ron Burgundy! You made me laugh at Will Ferrell, and I will never forgive you for that! Seriously, I place Will Ferrell about one step up from Ben Stiller (who coincidentally does make a brief cameo here), with Ferrell being one of the most not-likeable comedic actors out there (at least in my opinion). But they all have their moments. There’s Something About Mary was Ben’s. This is Will Ferrell’s. I will let him bask in its glory, as fleeting as it is.
Ron Burgundy is the cream of the, I dunno, late 70s/early 80s newscaster crop here as the San Diego lead newscaster. His team is even more stupid than he is, but they present well on camera, and are the bees knees of the local party scene. But then an apple of discord is thrown in their midst. An...anchor WOMAN. Oh, times they be a changin. What starts off as a good partnership soon devolves into ruthless competition, and we all reap the comedic rewards. Go fuck yourself, whale’s vagina!
There’s a lot of funny scenes here tied together, both funny in their own right and legitimately part of the overall story arc. I won’t lie, a lot of the dialogue made me laugh. I have to think the script allowed for quite a bit of improvisation here, and to their collective credit, it does provide more laughs than I thought it would. Even upon revisiting, there’s some hilarious dialogue throughout. Funny is funny, even if it’s a bit juvenile. Will Ferrell plays the usual somewhat retarded character with the big ego. Same character, almost every single time. But he does it with such a classy finesse here, I have to give him credit. Seriously, besides the more serious role where he is like playing a straightman narrated in somebody else’s story (Stranger Than Fiction>), that one is ok because his doesn’t go full retard, but yeah most other films he’s just unfunny in his tryings to be. It’s a fine line to cross, and the dude almost always crosses it. But dammit. Yeah. He doesn’t go full retard here, and provides actual amusements. Damn you, jazz flute. Not quite as bad as space jazz, but close.
