Directed by: Adam McKay
Starring: Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Christina Applegate, David Koechner, Paul Rudd, Kristen Wiig, Meagan Good, James Marsden
The plot: The San Diego news team from the first Anchorman reteams at a fledgling 24-hour cable news network in early 1980's Manhattan.
Anchorman 2 tries so hard and throws so much at the wall that eventually some of it will stick and be funny. Unlike the first Anchorman, this sequel is a near free-for-all without the satire. And like any movie Judd Apatow has anything to do with (he produces here), the movie runs excessively long. Why does a comedy have to be over two hours? Especially one that is sporadically funny?
Will Ferrell returns as the chauvinistic, improper, but impeccably groomed anchorman Ron Burgundy who as the film opens is working with now-spouse Veronica (Applegate) as weekend broadcasters in New York. Ron is fired by the veteran weeknight news anchor (Harrison Ford), while Veronica is moved to take over the weeknight spot, causing a monstrous blow to Ron's ego and his marriage. Soon, Ron is back in San Diego (which he pronounces "San Diago") working as an emcee at Sea World and getting plastered.
He is soon approached to work at Global News Network, a startup 24-hour cable news network based in New York and he gathers up the old gang to head there. He finds his sportscaster Champ Kind (Koechner) running a dubious fried-chicken establishment, his weatherman Brick Tamland (Carell) dumb as ever, and Brian Fantana (Rudd) taking photos for Cat Fancy magazine. They are involved in a terrible RV wreck because Ron misunderstood the meaning of "cruise control". The RV wreck isn't funny, but instead makes you wince.
Ron comes to New York, engages in a feud with pretty-boy anchor James Lime (Marsden), and attempts to win his family back. Other things happen and describing that will take up too much time. There is an introduction of a love interest for Brick, a receptionist named Chani (Wiig) who may actually be dumber than he is. Their scenes are funny, but there aren't enough of them. Anchorman 2 begins to feel like a movie trying to shoehorn in all of its ideas.
What's missing here is the satire. Anchorman was a funny satire of TV news and sexual politics in the workplace. Anchorman 2 doesn't aim that high. It is content on taking the low road. It even spends an entire segment on Ron going blind and taking care of a baby shark, which doesn't work.
There is a payoff to this at the end of the film which doesn't work either. Also near the end is a rumble similar to the one in the original in which many stars make cameo appearances. That number is nearly doubled in this sequel, which doesn't matter because the fights aren't funny anyway. It's fun for a second to see some of these actors, but nothing is done with them.
Director McKay said that there are so many jokes and lines written for the film that a second or third version of Anchorman 2 could've been made with all new jokes. These versions are available if you buy the DVD, but that seems like a high price to pay. It's not a good sign if the jokes that made it in to this movie were considered the best ones.
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