Escape to the Movies: Anchorman 2

[Kapol]

My only real problem with this movie is how they've been using it to market so many things. Between a book, the car commercials, and other ways to try to jam the character into as many orifices as they can, I was worried this was going to be awful just on the basis of them trying too hard. The fact it's good is... actually kind of disappointing in that regard. I'll likely wait till it comes out DVD to see it though.

 

[RoonMian]

Paul Rudd is gonna be Ant-Man? That means I'm gonna see Paul Rudd beat his on-screen wife? Let's see how he's gonna sell that.

 

[UrinalDook]

This review felt really bipolar. Bad review, Bob. Bad review.

I agree. I'm a fan of your reviews Bob, but this review was very self contradicting. "This movie's not as good as the original. It's the best comedy this year. This movie overstays its welcome, but I highly recommend you watch it."

Bad review this time. I've gotten more concrete opinions that tell me what I need to know from other critics.

Except that this is pretty much exactly how the film feels. Seriously, saw it last night and I absolutely agree with Bob's review. It is utterly undeniable that this film is not as good as the first, that some of the jokes and callbacks feel forced and try too hard, that it goes on a bit too long and that Ron's relationship with his boss is awkward as fuck.

But it's also still goddamn hilarious. I don't know how Bob could have given his review any differently. The review feels "bipolar" and "self-contradicting" because the film he's talking about is. I spent the whole time aware that it just wasn't hitting the same highs of creativity and nigh-surrealist originality of the first, but equally aware that I simply didn't care because I was still having a great time laughing my ass off.

It's like the old joke about how sex is like pizza: even when it's bad, it's still pretty damn good. Well, I'd add Anchorman to that. Even when it's a slightly too long overwrought sequel, it's still got enough Ron Burgundy to be funnier than just about every other comedy I've seen this year.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Since I really don't like Will Ferrel, I definitely won't be seeing this.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Am I missing something? Because I didn't like the first one very much at all.

 

[CaptainMarvelous]

Paul Rudd is gonna be Ant-Man? That means I'm gonna see Paul Rudd beat his on-screen wife? Let's see how he's gonna sell that.

I like how Ant-Man is more known for hitting his wife (once while having a mental breakdown) than for having the super power to change size and control ants with a helmet. It's like "Batman? You mean that guy who got kidnapped by Santa" [http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/971879a34dda37ba68fb55344cb0ae67d6c7163f_m.jpg]

OT: I honestly knew I'd see Anchorman 2 but I thought it'd have a wider consensus going for it :-/

 

[Bravo Company]

I feel like I'm in a very small minority of people who just didn't find the first film all that hysterical. It had a couple moments, sure, but nothing I really consider great outside any moments with Steve Carell. I was curious to see how the second one differed, but I suppose this'll be another one I'm likely to skip out on.

I know this puts me in the negative view of the internet, my friends, my family, and random people in Wal-Mart, but I honestly didn't like Anchorman. I mean it was pretty funny, and it does have a LOT of fun quotes to bust out, but I just didn't really like it as a movie. Since seeing it, I've never really had the desire to see it again, and when I have ended up seeing it again I'm usually spacing out and giving more of my attention to my gameboy.

Don't be afraid, you're not alone! I feel very similar. The first one was okay besides the random good quotable parts, but I still feel like the movie wasn't very funny at all.

Then again I didn't find stepbrothers or any of the "hangovers" to be funny in the slightest.

 

[Kittyhawk]

Zelda Warriors? Hmmm!

Anchorman didn't need a sequel as it wasn't that funny, while I can see what it was trying to ape.

As for Ant Man, lets hope it actually good.

 

[Metalrocks]

im always skeptical with comedies these days. they are mostly too stupid or not funny at all. i havent watched the first one and im not really eager to watch it either. but maybe one day i might give it a try when i see it for rent. second one, well, saw the trailer but i dint find anything funny. in fact, practically no one in the cinema was laughing.

 

[Remus]

I just hope that Paul Rudd doesn't tread on Watchmen territory, cuz with his hair down he does look an awful lot like Patrick Wilson's Nightowl, and Pym does kinda fit that niche on the Avengers - the reclusive scientist/hero that's smarter than his friends/teammates give him credit for.

 

[honeybakedham]

I read the tag that said "Paul Rudd is Ant-Man." However, it went by kinda quick and my brain processed it as "Ron Paul is Ant-Man."

There was a brief moment there where my brain just seized up and reality seemed to fold in on itself. Fortunately, I quickly unscrambled the misfire in my head and was able to regain my faith in the universe once more.

 

[Revolutionary]

So if I'm one of those people that found the original painfully unfunny I'm probably not going to enjoy this?

 

[EHKOS]

I called it from the start. Still going to see it and enjoy it for what it is, but as soon as I heard about it, I knew it was going to be like this. I like the time skip to the eighties though, that's actually a pretty inventive direction to go considering the previous movie. Although it sounds like the plot is basically the same thing. Veronica gets special attention, and Ron gets jealous.

 

[Dunesen]

I think you're overthinking the plot of the movie Bob, specifically in asserting that there are several different plots when really everything works as part of the larger story of Ron's fall and rise and fall (and yeah, it is cribbed from the first Anchorman and yeah, the injury storyline is taken from Talladega Nights). Getting the team back together was its own sequence not for plot necessity but because as a comedy the movie wants to be a collection of set pieces instead of a singular narrative. They got a number of jokes from reintroducing the other members of the team and then the story moved on to the next bit.

And I think you're overstating the idea of the entire world being insane. The world of news anchors is presented as crazy, but that's it.

I think the real problem is that trying to review a comedy always comes down to a simplistic "Is it funny or not?" discussion. I don't think the analysis of the plot was needed, at least not to the extent you took it.

 

[Dunesen]

...Although it sounds like the plot is basically the same thing. Veronica gets special attention, and Ron gets jealous.

Kind of yes, kind of no. Veronica being offered the promotion is the first scene, and it's more to set up act two's "Ron and the team invent facile, spectacle-driven cable news" and act three's "Ron falls and has to redeem himself." His relationship with Veronica is given attention off and on through the middle part, but his objectives are somewhere else (sort of).

 

[Zydrate]

I liked some of the jokes in the first one but...
I know it was supposed to be exaggerated/satirical but all the sexism made me extremely uncomfortable and couldn't fully enjoy it.

If there's more of that I might not bother.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

Saw it on the weekend, and I found it to be a flanderised repeat of the first film. The sequel just didn't recapture the fresh, manic originality of it's predecessor.

I'm beginning to suspect that I was merely shocked into finding the original film funny.