Movie Review: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Nine years ago, a legend of reading the news was born. In 2013, Ron Burgundy is back to deliver the news with salon-quality hair and further adds to his legacy as the greatest anchorman in the history of broadcast television.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, the long-awaited sequel to the 2004 cult classic and one of my personal favorites Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, doesn't really differ from the original (save for a setting and decade) and it's better for it. The same off-kilter randomness that made the first installment such a booming success is once again present in spades this time around. You really have to hand it to Will Ferrell and Adam McKay for keeping that unique oddball dynamic in-tact. They could've easily half-assed this sequel given how long it's been since the first one came out. Instead they took their time making it, brought back all the ingredients that made the first one work and made a second installment that does the first one proud. Beautiful one-liners are ripped off left and right and there are a few parts that had me in tears (the climax is possibly the funniest thing put on film this year.)

The one surprise that came out of Anchorman 2 was how sharp of a satire it is on the use of sensationalist journalism in the modern era. I wasn't expecting such accurate and intelligent social commentary to be present in an Anchorman film.Kudos to McKay and Ferrell for some adding some biting material mocking the hyperbole of real-world journalism amidst all the wackiness of the rest of the film.

About the only issue I had with Anchorman 2 was the rehashing of jokes from the original. There are some recurring bits that work (Brian Fantana's Sex Panther, the aforementioned climax sequence) but a majority of them either fall flat or just aren't nearly as amusing as they were the first time around. I also felt that Kristen Wiig was wildly underused. Wiig is one of the most talented comedians around right now and it kind of sucks that her abilities were pretty much kept in-check due to how little screen time her character had. While it doesn't quite reach the heights of the original, Anchorman 2 is ultimately a consistently funny and sometimes downright hysterical film that keeps the Anchorman franchise alive and well.

4/5 Stars