Anchorman 2 Sucker Punches Ratings-Inspired Cable News Coverage

I’m glad I skipped Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues when it was released several months ago. Letting the overwhelming hype and crass over-commercialization die down gave me more reasonable expectations.

Of course I heard that it received very mixed reviews, and several people have flat-out told me not to watch it. But in the end, I’m a sucker for Ron Burgundy and his brand of wacked-out humor.

The biggest problem I have with the movie is its slow start. The worse choice by the filmmakers was to make it so unfunny for so long. I counted to the 17-minute mark before laughing, which happens when Paul Rudd enters as a cat photographer.

Rudd actually doesn’t garner many laughs after that. Steve Carell plays, for me, the most consistently funny role as Brick the off-the-wall weatherman. His relationship with similarly nuts Kristen Wiig is endearing, his “pre-funeral” is kind of creative, and his laughing fit in the RV as the gang gets reacquainted on their way to big new cable-TV jobs in New York is equally laugh-out-loud for the viewer.

The worst parts of the movie are when it drifts into Spoils of Babylon-like family drama. It’s no coincidence that those first 17 minutes are heavy with Christina Applegate, who has no chemistry with Will Ferrell as his newscaster wife. Every star in the universe appears in the climatic news-personality fight scene, which again doesn’t work that well.

However, most of the main characters are likeable enough to spend a couple hours of your life with. The social commentary on the rise of ratings-at-all-costs media is insightful. And the 70s yacht-rock soundtrack (from Christopher Cross to John Waite to Kenny Loggins and much more) makes Anchorman 2 a slice of media pleasure.

*** out of ***** stars