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| They're back, and even mediocre-r than ever! |
Now, I have to admit that movies with Will Ferrell are either hit or miss with me. For every Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy, there is a Stranger than Fiction. For every Talledaga Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, there is a Land of the Lost. So when Adam McKay decided to direct a sequel for his first foray with Will Ferrell, I was anticipating a great movie. What I got instead, was not unpleasurable, but it did leave something a little wanting.
Warning, the following contains spoilers, mostly minor. Do not read if you intend to see the movie anytime soon.
Let me throw something out there. I've always been a fan of many of Will Ferrell's SNL skits. I think they are some of the most timeless and classic pieces of comedy that he's ever done. With that said, I understand that a lot of that charm can get lost when doing feature-length movies. I call it the Powerpuff Girls Parable. (Unless there is an actual term for what I'm about to describe, then in which case, I'd rather call it by it's actual name.) The Powerpuff Girls was a cute little cartoon filled with charm, as they usually did maybe two eleven minute segments, and kept the show exciting, with jokes and action... but when the movie turned into a movie, there was just something lost. Especially it's charm, and I'm afraid Will Ferrell, and this movie tried to recapture the feel of a movie that came out TEN... yes, ten years ago.
Which leads me to ask the question, why are prequels and sequels coming out so much later now? I think Hollywood feels that we still connect with these characters, and while I really liked Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy... we have to contend with the fact it came out ten years ago. And I haven't even gotten into the actual movie yet.
I think the biggest mistake of Anchorman 2, is that it feel so scattershot, that it feels almost like we're following a band of thirteen dwarves, most with no personality, all about a hobbit who quite frankly takes a back seat to his own adventure. Ooooh... The entire movie feels disjointed. It's almost like the creative team tried to smash three movies into one (something that Peej should have done), and aborted half of it, and said fuck it on the other half. That's not to say anything about the pacing of the movie. It feels clunky, as it has Ron spending entirely too much time rounding up the news team, and then the rushed feeling of the ending, and a lot of parts in the middle that screwed comedic or story timing.
Also, a lot of jokes that were meant to be funny simply weren't. The movie theater was quiet for some jokes that I knew were supposed to be the big ones, and I even heard one woman say "that's not funny." and that got a bigger laugh than the movie. Now, there are a few jokes in there that got the crowd laughing, but they were the more subtle, thinker jokes. But some jokes go on for far too long, not unlike a Sideshow Bob rake joke, which starts off as funny, then becomes unfunny, then somehow becomes funny again, here it's annoying as hell.
The story doesn't really focus on any one thing, the side characters aren't really explored so much with the exception of Brick, but we'll get to him later. (He's in the what do I like about this movie section). Ron Burgandy's a little bit more of an asshole in this movie, and doesn't really learn anything, by the end of the movie which makes him unlikeable in my opinion. There are more subplots and unnecessary off-shoots and tangents than a typical Christopher Nolan movie.
There are other things that keeps this movie from being a great one in my opinion, but here are some things that I think makes it a good one. And, let's just dive right in and tell you about the best part in my opinion. Anything that has Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) in it. Well, except for one joke that Brick thinks he's dead, and the others are trying to convince him he's not dead, and the joke just goes on and one with little pay-off. But everything else is great. There's a love interest for him in this movie, and quite honestly, is probably the most touching thing I've seen recently. The love interest is also, mentally handicapped, so the relationship almost works like two children. It's sweet but a bit bizarre, so you have to have sort of a weird mindset to really appreciate it on a level that I do, but quite honestly, I wanted to know more about how the two of them would relate off of each other, and while yes you do get to see some of it, and enough to reach the logical conclusion of where it goes in the end. I ended up not caring much about anyone else, than I did these two characters.
There are some jokes that were generally funny, and they really worked, but... I was expecting the laughs to be dialed up from the last movie, and not scaled back. There is a scene in the movie where the newsteam is working for a female African-American supervisor for the first time, and Ron doesn't know how to handle this, and he just awkwardly repeats the word "Black" every so often. It's sort of like how Austin Powers kept saying "mole" except, unlike that example, the "black" thing wasn't funny, and got a little uncomfortable after about the fourth time he said it. It gets worse when Ron meets her family, and he just keeps saying inappropriate racial stuff. I guess Interracial Shock Value just isn't funny for me, these days.
So... wow, there's really not a lot of stuff here that I personally liked. But, to the casual movie-goer, or even those who liked the first one, there is a lot of familiar, predictable, funny things. For me this movie while showing a lot of effort, a lot of creativity, just missed the great mark, and settled for good. Others may like it for what it is, and what it pays tribute too. I'm glad I saw this movie, but may I say something... please do not wait ten fucking years to make a prequel/sequel! What the fuck, Peej?!
This has been another Infraggable Tony-Review, you stay classy readers.
Next time on The Infraggable Tony-Reviews: A tribute to the late James Avery.
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