One of the finest and funniest comedies with SNL alumn Will Ferrell, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy finds Ferrell starring in the title role. Ron Burgundy is the ultra-popular news anchorman who brings the San Diego of the mid-1970's their evening news each and every night. He may be a bit of a dunce but the world is his oyster. He's ridiculously popular and quite wealthy and he's made a good living heading up his news team: sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner), slightly slow weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) and field reporter Brian Fontana (Paul Rudd). This being the seventies and the newsroom being very much a 'man's game' it stands to reason that these guys are more than just a little bit sexist.

Imagine their surprise then, when their equally sexist producer, Ed Harken (Fred Willard), tells the team that they're bringing in a new member - Miss Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). It seems that a small segment of the viewing public has complained about the fact that there is no diversity on the show and so Veronica is being brought on board to demonstrate to the community that the station really does care about such things. Of course, Veronica is immediately put down by her male co-workers. Ron sees her as nothing more than eye candy and the rest of the staff treat her no better. Soon though, Veronica starts to fall for Ron despite his oafish ways, and he finds himself just as interested in her. Ron and Veronica's personal relationship soon becomes strained by their professional one and before you know it they're trying to out do one another on air, and eventually one of them will have to emerge the victor.

There are a few quirky subplots involving news-teams who rumble like street gangs (rival anchormen are played by Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, and Tim Robbins), Ron's beloved dog Baxter and his run-in with a biker (Jack Black), and Ed's ongoing problems with his son's school but the bulk of the film centers around the dynamic between Ron and Veronica and how it changes the news team. As such the success of the film really rests on Ferrell's on screen chemistry with Koechner, Carell and Rudd and, more, with Applegate. Thankfully, these relationships work really well in the picture. When Ferrell interacts with his male co-stars it's very much a 'guys night out' dynamic and it makes for a humorous contrast against his nervous relationship with Applegate, who proves here that she's more than just Kelly Bundy. While Ferrell is hysterical in the part and perfectly cast in the lead (try not to bust a gut during the flute sequence - 'Aqualung!') the producers have been smart enough to surround him with some equally talented comedic actors. Carell steals every scene he's in with his turn as the 'mentally challenged' weatherman and Rudd and Koechner are almost as funny in their respective supporting roles.

While the humor in the film is obvious in spots, at times it's also completely off the wall which gives the picture a fair amount of replay value. Director Adam McKay (who worked with Ferrell on SNL and who would direct him again in Talladega Nights) paces the film well so that it never overstays its welcome and so that the jokes come in very quick succession. While it's fair to criticize the film for not always staying coherent and a lot of times the humor is just sort of there, rather than part of the actual plot, there's no denying that the movie is genuinely funny. Those who don't already like Ferrell won't be convinced by the movie but for those who do appreciate his odd brand of comedy, Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy is comedy gold!

Video:

Those who have seen Anchorman on standard definition DVD will notice the improvement in picture quality almost immediately on this 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen 1080p AVC transfer. Detail is improved even if at times the picture is just a little bit soft. Colors look nice and bright, the various garish pieces of wardrobe used in the film in particular look quite good, although it won't be hard to notice more grain than you might expect from a film made so recently (it's actually distracting in a couple of scenes). Aside from that, however, the film looks quite good here. There are no problems with compression artifacts or heavy edge enhancement and fine detail is pretty strong throughout. The softness and grain that show up in some scenes keep the transfer from scoring higher but it certainly looks good even if it doesn't look great.