Wednesday, May 04, 2005

The Anchorman with Will Ferrell

Certain staff at Empire Magazine had been touting this as the best comedy for a decade on its release! I had seen the talented Will Ferrell in Elf two Christmases ago and found myself enjoying his performance if not the script so much, but other than that I hadn't thought too much about him.

Well, there is no doubt anymore: the new King of Comedy is right here! Anchorman (subtitled The Legend Of Ron Burgundy) is - if you like your comedy silly - the most laughs per minute I've had in a long time. At one point I had to pause it to give my kidneys the chance to recover after my convulsions!

Not only the man himself, but the supporting cast of characters, too, are so richly drawn and so preposterously strange that when you whip them all together with some great one-liners and some hilarious sight-gags you have a movie even funnier than Dodgeball - and two months ago I wouldn't have thought that possible within the same year.

Speaking of Ben Stiller, he pops up in another unforgettable cameo in the same scene as Tim Robbins and Luke Wilson to add even more juice to the cocktail. I'm almost scared to watch it again, so soon, as I may do myself some permanent damage!

Several scenes, especially those in the first half of the movie will surely go down in comedic history - not least of all the side-splitting "jazz flute" section (pictured). Ron Burgundy could easily return in more adventures, Austin Powers style, but whatever Ferrell does I will be first in the queue - he has a new ‘biggest fan’. 10/10 (for its genre)

Kirk

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