Thiel-a-Vision Review: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

For me, the only real test of a comedy is whether it makes me laugh. Plot, characterization and literacy are all secondary considerations, welcome but largely irrelevant to the task at hand. A movie like Dr. Strangelove might have impeccable creative credits, but cleverness and with are not the same as comedy. For me, the funny flicks that best stand the tests of time and multiple viewings are those that pursue both irreverence and irrelevance, that pursue their own nonsensical logic and fire gags at the audience like buckshot. Airplane! is still the champion joke machine for its willingness to go absolutely anywhere for a laugh; some bits fall flat but their sheer number produce many quotable moments.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy may not quite reach the heights of Airplane!, but this tale of a '70s TV news team coping with the introduction of a woman into their male hierarchy sets its sights on silly and frequently hits the target. What could've been a sly satire on the women's movement and the decline of the patriarchy instead becomes an exercise in absurdity, and that's not at all a bad thing.

An early scene features beloved TV anchor Burgundy at home, chatting away to his dog Baxter. This is, of course, an activity engaged in by many pet owners who don't really expect an answer. But then Burgundy reminds the pooch that he doesn't understand Spanish. Okay, so Ron really is conversing with the dog, or at least is foolish enough to believe so. Another comedy might leave things there. However, we ultimately receive a definitive demonstration that not only does Baxter bark in Spanish, but is multi-lingual. Anchorman is that kind of movie.

On the other hand, Anchorman does know when to dial back a bit. The '70s fashions and names (Brick Tamland, Brian Fantana) are funny, but not so extreme as to call attention to themselves. And while Burgundy (ably played by the endearingly goofy Will Ferrell) is dumb enough to think that the name "San Diego" means "whale's vagina," he's not irretrievably stupid. He at least knows enough to suggest to Brick (the mentally retarded weatherman hilariously played by Steve Carell) that he should lay low for awhile after killing a rival newsman with a trident. He's even the first to show sensitivity toward his female rival. Plus, he can play a mean jazz flute.

The aforementioned trident comes into play during my favorite scene, a street rumble between competing news teams that plays out like a cross between West Side Story and Planet of the Apes. Soon, other gangs from the local Spanish-language channel and the public TV station show up as well, all brandishing a variety of makeshift weapons. Soon, there are people on fire, limbs being chopped off, horsemen throwing nets and Brick Tamland holding a live hand grenade.

Anchorman is stupid, to be sure, but it's smart about its stupidity, and funnier than a warehouse on fire. (News at Eleven!)

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