Fans of the Todd Phillips school of comedy are going to be divided on this one -- there's real potential here and a great premise but had it been a little cleverer it could've been so much more.
Comment
03/14/05
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
65
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:186
Fresh:120
Rotten:66
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: It's a one-joke premise, but the movie is amiably dumb, and there are scenes of inspired goofiness.
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Genre: Comedies
US Box Office: $84,136,909
Synopsis: Will Ferrell ("Elf," "Old School") stars as Ron Burgundy, the top-rated anchorman in San Diego in the ‘70s. When feminism marches into the newsroom in the form of ambitious newswoman Veronica... [More]
Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, David Koechner
Director: Adam McKay
Reviews for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; Australian critics are listed first)
Top CriticSome of the material works, some doesn't.
10/18/08
Top CriticClick to read the article
03/09/05
Top CriticIt's not a comedy.
07/09/04
Will Ferrell shows that even he is not immune to looking bad when faced with bad material, even if it's his own. Possibly one of the worst directed films of the year.
07/07/04
Overall, I put Anchorman on about the same level as Dodgeball. Both movies are pretty stupid and don't generate as many laughs as you wish they would.
03/05/05
Anchorman works so well because Ferrell's persona fits flawlessly into this world of overgrown boys working men's jobs.
07/09/04
Ron may be an idiot, but Anchorman is no dope.
07/08/04
Surprise surprise, the movie outplays its trailer. Picks up big well-deserved laughs in between ever decreasing non-funny moments.
07/29/04
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy shows that the past has bright future in Hollywood comedies.
07/25/05
It's essentially a one-joke situation carried to a tedious length and Ferrell hardly runs away with his cliched part.
07/08/04
There isn't a second that goes by without Ferrell filling it with some form of comic shtick - a well-turned punch line, a goofy facial expression, a pratfall or some other kind of physical comedy business.
07/09/04
Even if many of the film’s individual characters aren’t worth remembering an hour after you see the movie, Anchorman is almost always hilarious.
07/10/04
No plot, no so-called redeeming social value and no desire to pluck the hearstrings, which is why it's superior to 'Elf.'
07/09/04
The barrage of very funny jokes makes up for any missteps, and by the end of the film you'll likely only remember the good parts.
07/08/04
Farrell carries the movie on his broad shoulders, nailing the character perfectly.
07/06/04
Good dumb fun can be lowbrow without being lazy, but bite-sized episodes of creative lunacy are not enough to qualify Anchorman as the kind of dumb worth paying to see.
07/08/04
Always affectionate toward its people, especially when they are at their most ridiculous, Anchorman meticulously builds America's dimmest news team. And we root for them.
07/09/04
Even though it feels the need to lapse into juvenile clowning around every once in awhile, Anchorman is still gonna make you laugh--hard.
07/08/04
Most of it isn't even as funny as those supposedly humorous features that local news broadcasts sometimes end with.
07/09/04
Latest News for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
June 02, 2009:
Will Ferrell Talks Land of the Lost
Ahead of the release of the comedy-adventure Land of the Lost -- a big-screen adaptation of Sid and Marty Kroft's psychedelic TV series from the '70s -- Rotten Tomatoes got the... More...
May 27, 2009:
Will Ferrell Talks Anchorman Sequel 
Hope you've been staying classy, San Diego -- Will Ferrell says discussions for an "Anchorman" sequel are taking place. More...
July 25, 2008:
Weekly Ketchup: Anchorman 2, Dracula: Year Zero, Twilight Zone and Much More
In this week's Weekly Ketchup we've got the latest on plenty of remakes and sequels coming your way. Plus, check back Monday for an extra special edition of the Ketchup, in... More...
June 06, 2008:
Steve Carell Would Totally Make Anchorman 2
Steve Carell has told MTV that he has "some inklings" about what Adam McKay has in mind for Anchorman 2, and he's "absolutely" interested in coming back for the sequel. More...
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