Well, perhaps I wasn’t in the right mood for it (everyone else in the theater seemed to think it was gut-bustingly funny), but I finally caught Anchorman, and, frankly, it kinda passed me by. I think Will Ferrell can be really hilarious at times (here as Dubya, for example), but, for the most part watching The Legend of Ron Burgundy felt to me like being trapped in a 12:45am SNL skit for two hours.
Ok, the Gangs of New York riff was pretty rich (although by this point, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and the whole “Frat Pack” crew are utterly overexposed…they should take a cue from Janeane Garofolo and disappear for awhile), and Steve Carell’s weatherman had some choice moments. But, I thought most of the set pieces — jazz flute, panther scent, dead dog, afternoon delight, etc. — fell totally flat. Which didn’t stop Ferrell & co. from remorselessly beating them into the ground, of course. I guess I should give them credit…the cast clearly did anything they could to extract humor out of the jokes and situations here. Unfortunately, I still didn’t find the end product all that funny. Ah well. (Dubya Ferrell link via Value Judgment.) Update: Ok, having watched this again on HBO, it’s definitely funnier than I gave it credit for at first. My b.