By DANNY BUTTLER
Anchorman 2 (M)
Starring: Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Christina Applegate
WHAT a rip-off.
It’s been the longest wait in history for a sequel, with the classic Anchorman becoming a franchise… and it’s a stinking dud.
If journalists had hearts to break, then this would surely do it.
As anarchic as the original, but lacking almost all of its charm, Anchorman 2 is an overlong travesty.
There was a rich vein to be mined here, but the laughs are few and far between.
The obvious set-up for the film flows from the Anchorman heyday of the ’70s into the lacklustre ’80s, and Ferrell portrays the legendary Ron Burgundy as a fish out of water trying to cope in this new politically correct environment.
The gender war between Ferrell and on-again off-again love interest Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) is perpetuated in this film, but to less effect.
A lot of how you feel about this film will come down to how you feel about Ferrell. I’m a fan; but this stinker simply fails to launch.
I wasn’t ready for Ferrell to go blind: nor was I ready for him to adopt a giant shark.
Worse, some of the funniest lines seem not to have made it out of the trailer.
The very funny sequence lampooning dinosaur attitudes to differing sexualities in the workplace doesn’t make it, nor does the motorhome crash scene live up to the previewed version.
The one almost belly laugh was the news team battle, which was taken to new heights, including an air strike called in by Will Smith.
Anyone who loved the original will now shudder at the thought of Anchorman 3, lest the brilliance of the first effort is further diluted.
-Jason Beck
