Review – Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

This is the movie I expected to get when I rented Elf. And just as I was pleasantly surprised when Elf turned out to be somewhat entertaining, I was unpleasantly reminded here of what crimes against humor Will Ferrell is capable of perpetrating. The plot’s some trite nonsense about a local news anchor in the 1970s coming to grips with a female co-worker. But the story’s beside the point. Sadly, the main purpose of this sad production is a relentless showcase for jokes that might charitably be described as quirky but would be more aptly called moronic. This also features a heapin’ helpin’ of that old SNL standby: when the joke doesn’t work, just keep doing it and dragging it out and doing it some more, hoping to draw a laugh out of the audience’s sheer embarrassment. That rarely works live and certainly doesn’t work here. Wish I’d skipped it