‘Anchorman’

‘Anchorman’

To stay close to the source is sometimes the key to satire. “Anchorman” is most effective, like “This Is Spinal Tap,” when it’s only one or two degrees removed from the excesses of the real thing. When a news director goes crazy over stories about cute animals at the zoo, when promos make the news “team” look like a happy family, this movie is right on target. But when rival local news teams engage in what looks like a free for all from a Roman arena, it doesn’t work. If that sentence makes sense to you then you’ll fit right in here; most of the time, though, “Anchorman” does work and much of the time it’s very funny.

The film is about Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), who was San Diego’s top local anchor in the early 1970s. He believes his promos: Ron tells a blonde at a pool party, “I have many very important leather bound books, and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.” His problem is that he will read anything that is typed into his prompter. Anything. The words go from his eyes to his mouth without passing through his brain.

There are viewers in every city who will think they know who this character is based on. Anyone around Chicago TV news in the 1970s will immediately think of one name; I won’t give it away but I can tell you this story: A friend was an assignment editor on this man’s station. One day he gave a juicy assignment to the man’s co-anchor and rival. The next day the nameless one leaned casually against my friend’s door:

“Say, John, that was a great story you had for Maury yesterday. What do you have for me today?”

“Anchorman” also shows promotional spots where Burgundy and his news teammates smile at each other lots and lots. Last week Richard Roeper and I reviewed promos at PROMAX, the annual convention of TV promotion people. One spot showed members of a news team doing magic tricks, performing with a Hula Hoop, playing a ukulele, etc. Yes, it was meant to be funny. And it was funny, especially if that’s how you want to think about the people you trust for your news.

When “Anchorman” opens, Ron Burgundy faces a crisis: Ed Harke (Fred Willard), the station’s news director wants to add “diversity” to the newsroom by hiring a woman no, a WOMAN! as Burgundy’s co-anchor. This is not possible. It is not right. It is against nature. Burgundy is appalled; the new co-anchor will be Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), who yes reader was the blonde that Burgundy tried to pick up with the leather and mahogany line.

The rest of the news team is made up of Champ Kind (David Koechner), Brick Tamland (Steven Carell) and Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd). And yes, they actually do sing “Afternoon Delight” sometimes when they’re together. They are unanimously opposed to adding a woman to their ranks. “I read somewhere,” one warns ominously, “that their periods attract bears.” Odors play a role in the movie: Hoping to attract Corningstone, Brian Fantana splashes on a cologne so strong it “smells like the time the raccoon got in the copier,” as agreed upon by the newsroom.

If this movie were merely about making Ron and his buddies look stupid, it would get old fast because that’s easy. But it has a heart. For all his faults, Ron is a pretty nice guy, and Veronica Corningstone, for all her attempts to seem serious-minded, kind of likes him especially after he shows off an unexpected musical talent in a lounge one night following an invitation to “sit in on jazz flute.”

There are a lot of cameo appearances by other stars of the current comedy-movie tour. I will not name them here. Well, I’ll name one character: An anchorman named Wes Mantooth is Burgundy’s archrival. When these teams clash in free for alls it’s over the top, but many quieter moments of rivalry hit their targets. I have known and worked with many anchorpersons over many years even female anchorpersons and most of them are good people: smart professionals who don’t take themselves too seriously. But every once in awhile you get a Ron Burgundy; you treasure him because he gives you stories you can dine out on for years.

Watch ‘Anchorman’ For Free On Gomovies.