‘Anchorman’ scores low with local press

Only worth the

matinee ticket price

Gary Moskowitz, left, is the police and courts reporter for the

News-Press, the Leader’s sister publication.

Will Ferrell’s latest movie romp, “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron

Burgundy,” really is a funny film. Funny enough that I frequently

laughed out loud, even snickering a few times when the folks sitting

around me were dead silent.

The problem with the movie is that, other than a few good laughs,

there’s not much else to say about it.

After we had both seen the film, my co-worker Josh Kleinbaum and I

had a conversation about “Anchorman” that went something like this:

“Did you see the movie?” “Yeah.” “Pretty funny.” “Yup.” End of

discussion. Next topic.

The plot, basically is: Pompous television newsman is his

newsroom’s hero, and the envy of other stations around 1970s San

Diego. Anchorman falls in love with new female anchorwoman, played by

Christina Applegate. Their love goes on the rocks, the anchorman is

fired, the anchorwoman takes over and then the couple reconciles

their love during a silly climax in the bear exhibit at the San Diego

Zoo.

Even though “Anchorman” is not a spin-off of a “Saturday Night

Live” sketch, it definitely comes off like one. And if you’ve seen

movies like “The Ladies Man,” “A Night at the Roxbury” and “Wayne’s

World,” you know exactly what I’m talking about.

If you’re looking for a good laugh, or just looking to kill two

hours sometime, go see the movie, but take advantage of a matinee

ticket price.

Movie lacks a

straight man to ground it

Josh Kleinbaum, right, is the city hall reporter for the

News-Press, the Leader’s sister publication.

There’s a simple way to get the entertainment of “Anchorman: The

Legend of Ron Burgundy” without shelling out the 10 bucks. Just find

a friend with a dog, punt the dog off of a bridge, stick your friend

in a phone booth and watch the ensuing shenanigans.

Of course, for those animal lovers who prefer to avoid the pooch

punt, you can get the same entertainment value by watching the movie,

a stupid, funny, entertaining romp. But the punt scene, one of the

movie’s best, illustrates just what is wrong with Will Ferrell’s

latest offering -- the movie is little more than a collection of

hilarious scenes.

Ferrell’s character is one of many outrageous 1970s stereo- types,

but the group lacks the straight man needed to ground the movie, like

Luke Wilson’s character in “Old School.”

If you like Ferrell’s movies and his “Saturday Night Live”

characters, no doubt you’ll like this. And you’ll have plenty of

laughs. But it’s not Ferrell’s best effort.

* “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” is rated PG-13 for

sexual humor, language and comic violence.