Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Twenty-one years. I had to sit with that for a moment when it hit me earlier. Twenty-one years since Ron Burgundy first told San Diego to stay classy, and the thing is, the film has barely aged a day. I rewatched it today with my girlfriend and we were both properly laughing throughout. Not polite chuckles, not the fond recognition of familiar gags. Actual, genuine laughter.

What strikes me most on a rewatch is how tight the script actually is. There's a reputation around this kind of comedy, the mid-2000s American improv-heavy ensemble stuff, that it's all loose and shaggy. And yes, you can feel the freedom the cast were given, but there's a real structure holding everything together. The jokes land because the characters are committed to completely. Will Ferrell is brilliant as Burgundy, no question, but the whole cast is operating at a high level. Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Fred Willard, all sharp.

But honestly, I have to talk about Steve Carell as Brick Tamland. He's operating on an entirely different plane of absurdity to everyone else in the film and it works perfectly. Brick is so profoundly confused by the world around him that every single one of his lines lands like a hand grenade. He'll say something completely disconnected from whatever conversation is happening and somehow it's funnier for being irrelevant. Carell plays it completely straight and that's the key. There's no winking at the camera, no "isn't this silly?" energy. He's just fully in it. A lesser performer would have made Brick annoying within ten minutes. Carell makes him the funniest person on screen.

The film sits in good company with other comedies from that era that I've got a lot of time for. If you like this, I enjoyed Old School (2003), which has a similar energy and a similarly committed ensemble doing ridiculous things with complete sincerity. There's something about that particular wave of comedies that felt genuinely alive in a way that's harder to find now.

I won't pretend the film is flawless. A few sequences drag slightly, and one or two gags feel like they went on a round longer than they needed to. But I'm being picky, and with a comedy this funny, you can afford to let a couple of bits breathe too long when the hit rate elsewhere is this high.

The thing I want to mention specifically, because it genuinely delighted me, is the nod to Smokey and the Bandit 2 near the end. It's such a specific, affectionate reference, and it's thrown in without fanfare, almost like a gift for anyone paying attention. That kind of detail tells you the people making this film were actually enthusiastic about what they were doing rather than just filling a quota. There's real love for daft Americana running through the whole thing.

Is it a perfect film? No. Is it three and a half stars of genuinely funny, well-performed, smartly written comedy that holds up two decades on? Absolutely. Put it on with someone you like, don't overthink it, and enjoy yourself. That's all it's asking you to do.

Three and a half stars.

Rating: ★★★½  | Year: 2004  | Watched: 2026-04-29

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