Laughs come and go, but local news never changes: Why 'Anchorman' holds up after 20 years
Who’s your Ron Burgundy?
Anyone who has ever watched local television news almost certainly has one — a clueless, self-important news reader who comes to mind when watching Adam McKay’s “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” I know I do — more than one, really, though I’m not going to say who they are. It wouldn’t be nice and besides, clueless, self-important media critics probably occupy a similar place in people’s consciousness. Pot, kettle, etc.
Still. “Anchorman” is now 20 years old — it came out on July 9, 2004. I am not going to be the person to tell you that it is a towering achievement in cinema, mostly because it’s not. I hate it when people pretend middling-good movies were classics just because they remember watching them when they were 16 or whatever. Hello, “Karate Kid.”
But “Anchorman” really is good, stupid fun, with an emphasis on stupid. It is just as stupid, and just as funny, 20 years later. Certainly mores have changed, but the sexism and bigotry in “Anchorman” was intentional from the start. It is, in fact, part and parcel of the story.
'Anchorman' holds up 20 years later
Legendary San Diego anchorman Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell, great) pretty much owns local news in the 1970s, along with his idiot crew: sports anchor Champ Kind (David Koechner), reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) and weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carrell). Their world is thrown into chaos when the station hires, gasp, a woman as a reporter. Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) is all business, even as she’s given ridiculous assignments. It doesn’t help their hidebound sexism that Veronica is also a really good reporter, with her eye on the anchor chair.
Which she will nab, eventually, though not before an affair with Ron, a bizarre Sharks-and-Jets throw down with other local stations and one of the all-time great pranks that is 100% believable if you’ve ever watched a local anchor who you just know will read anything they see on the Teleprompter. (Ron’s sign-off is, “You stay classy, San Diego!” Veronica conspires to have the prompter loaded with a vulgar, hilarious replacement.) From there it turns into a redemption story, sort of.
Ron Burgundy is one of Will Ferrell's most-iconic roles
The film is a quote machine. “Boy, that escalated quickly.” “I don’t know how to put this, but I’m kind of a big deal.” “They’ve done studies, you know; 60% of the time it works every time.” And my favorite, “Brick killed a guy!” But like a lot of comedies, it’s not so much a linear story as a series of skits, some funnier than others. (McKay and Ferrell wrote the script.)
And for whatever reason, it zeroes in on a subject that is unbelievably ripe for the picking, but largely ignored in movies: local TV news. That aspect of the film and its sense of satire remains not only unchanged, but maybe even more true. When the newsroom and viewers in “Anchorman” fall in love with video of a squirrel on water skis it’s meant to be a satire of the feel-good stories that local news is filled with, not a great story assignment. Now it just seems like another night on the news.
A quick note: Local TV news is filled with people who do excellent work. This isn’t about that, or about them. But it is undeniably filled with characters with an outsize opinion of themselves and their own skills, as well as their importance to the community.
Which is another thing “Anchorman” nails — no matter how good or bad, if you’re on TV, people know who you are, and that buys you a lot of popularity. Ron is a hero in San Diego, until he’s a pariah. A flute solo in a local restaurant? Why not! He’s Ron Burgundy! It says as much about viewers as it does journalists.
Hot take: The sequel is even better
I actually prefer 2013’s “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” when the crew goes to New York for a brand-new concept: a 24-hour cable network. It takes the original “Anchorman” concept — idiots in a newsroom — and transfers it to an even richer source of satire. You have to fill those hours with something, and as anyone who has ever watched CNN, Fox News or MSNBC knows well, not all of those hours are filled with gold.
But “Anchorman” came first. It’s one of Ferrell’s most-iconic roles; the late, great Fred Willard is brilliant, as always; and Applegate plays perfectly off of Ferrell.
Media has undergone massive changes in the last 20 years. For instance, where are you reading this story? Phone? Computer? You might watch the news the same way. What hasn’t changed is the heart of what makes “Anchorman” still memorable today — the sometimes-ridiculous work of trying to get and hold an audience.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Watch 'Anchorman' 20 years later. Why it's still funny, and spot-on