Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Blu-ray + DVD + UltraViolet)

Blu-Ray Reviews | Apr 5th, 2014

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Blu-Ray Review

Starring: Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Meagan Good, James Marsden, Kristen Wiig
Written By: Will Ferrell, Adam McKay
Directed By: Adam McKay
Studio: Paramount
Buy On Amazon.com

I’ve repeatedly said on this site how much I love Anchorman and think it’s one of the funniest movies in the last 20 years. I was really looking forward Anchorman 2 and I was just letdown…BIGTIME!

The movie is about Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) losing his job (again) to his wife Veronica (Christina Applegate). Ron re-ensembles his news team from San Diego and moves to New York City to be apart of a 24 hour news station. When arriving to New York, Ron immediately butts heads with a rival anchorman (James Marsden) and fights his way to the top of the news station. That’s pretty much all you need to know about the story.

The first time I saw this, I was truly disappointed and didn’t know what the hell I just watched. It was a feeling of confusion, anger, and disappointment. All these feelings over a over a stupid comedy. Going into this movie, I just had high hopes and thinking that Adam McKay and Will Ferrell would come up with the best comedy and they wouldn’t fail. After all, they had many years to write this but something had to go off the rails when making this. Was it McKay’s edits or direction or the acting? Maybe they should have stayed away from sequels like they have been all these years. If they make another Step Brothers, I will be very skeptical that it will be any good.

While most of the acting is all right, Steve Carell was absolutely the worst I’ve ever seen him in a movie. He was just LOUD and obnoxious. Brick was great in the first movie because he was used very little but he didn’t shout all his lines. Just one or two lines in the first which ended up being memorable. Can’t say the same for Anchorman 2. He practically shouted every single line and it was just cringey and unfunny. I seriously think they should have just killed him off in the movie. He really ruined the overall movie for me but he’s not the only thing wrong with it. Not to fault the little kid or anything, but he makes Jake Lloyd look like Anthony Hopkins. I swear Adam McKay & company just picked the worst kid actor because it would be funny. Besides that, Kristen Wiig’s character was just as bad as Steve Carell’s Brick. Harrison Ford’s scenes were awkward as well.

I think in the end, the blame for this mess is Adam McKay’s. He seemed like he just decided to throw a bunch of shit at the wall and see what stuck. The story and editing was all over place (for both versions of the movie I saw). The entire plotline with Ron losing his eyesight and living in a lighthouse and befriending a stupid dolphin was so bad I had to skip that part during my second viewing. Another pointless plot point was Ron and Veronica splitting up and then Ron hooking up with Linda Jackson, only to have them get back together again. Essentially, it’s carbon copy to the first Anchorman movie.

Believe it or not, there is some things that I like about the movie. Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy is still great, as well as Paul Rudd and David Koechner. Christina Applegate proves she’s still very funny and her comic timing is spot on. I liked the creation of 24 hour news station and doing something “new” like going live to police chases. Lots of things that happened over those broadcasts were funny and of course I liked the inevitable battle royale at the end. Although, that was a bit of a letdown too because the scene was done over Ron’s stupid kid’s piano recital and the music didn’t really go. The cameos were funny but not as funny as the original movie’s cameos and didn’t have the impact it should had. The element of surprise was gone because you knew all these famous people were going to be in this. It’s still one of the better parts of the movie though.

Like Anchorman, the special features are plentiful.You have basically 3 different cuts of the movie, loads of deleted scenes and alternate takes, gag reel and some other behind the scenes things. For these types of movies, the gag reel and line-o-ramas is something I watch first and thankfully didn’t disappoint. Honestly, I probably laughed more for these special features than I did for the actual movie. The deleted scenes are an hour and half long so I didn’t sit through all of them but if you got the time and like the movie, worth watching. I love the amount of extras you get, especially for a comedy.

So why did I request this if I already hated it in theaters? Well, I was expecting unrated cuts and different cuts of the movie and thought maybe my opinion of this would change over a second viewing. That didn’t happen unfortunately. I think this is just a mess of a movie and if this was cut down to around 90 minutes and re-shot, it would be salvageable. I just don’t know where the movie went so wrong. Was it the script? Was it the irritating and overused character of Brick? The script or the editing? Not sure but the movie just didn’t work for me and I’m sure many others. You’re either going to love this movie or completely hate it like I did.

Features
Commentary By Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner (Unrated Version)
Behind-The-Scenes: Newsroom
2 Gag Reels
2 Line-O-Rama’s
Cast Table Reads
Over 90 Minutes Of Deleted, Extended & Alternate Scenes
4 Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes Including RV And News Fight
Rare Cast Auditions

Video
Widescreen 1.78:1 Color

Audio
French Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
English DTS-HD MA 5.1

Bottom Line: Very disappointing sequel but with some funny parts
Running Time: 143 mins
Rating: R
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating:

Topics:

, , , , , , , , , , ,