Movie Review: "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" (Adam McKay, 2013)

THEY DON’T JUST REPORT THE NEWS, YOU KNOW:

THE “ANCHORMAN” GANG RETURNS by Bennett Campbell Ferguson        

Early in “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” 1980s newscaster Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) sits in a meeting with his boss Freddie Shapp (Dylan Baker) while they brainstorm topics to cart out for the 2:00 AM news.  Freddie nobly suggests climate change, but Ron has another idea.  “Why do we have to tell people what they need to hear?” he ponders loudly.  “Why can’t we just tell people what they want to hear?” 

            A witty assertion, to be sure, but one that also speaks to an uncomfortable truth.  Director Adam McKay (who co-wrote the movie with Mr. Ferrell) clearly understands that all too often, we really do prefer entertaining and innocuous fiction over actual facts, and his recognition of this nervously giggle-inducing reality transforms “Anchorman 2” into a surprisingly stinging satire.  The movie may be devilishly crude (a major sight gag involves a character getting hit in the crotch by a bowling ball), but the inner workings of the story have matured since it began in the 2004 film “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.”  Flying in the face of the classic sequel mantra, Mr. McKay and Mr. Ferrell apparently decided that this time it’s not just personal—it’s political. 

            It’s also an entirely new chapter in Ron’s life.  When “Anchorman 2” begins, Ron seems to have finally calmed his swooning self-love and settled down with his wife and co-anchor, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate).  But when Veronica receives a promotion and Ron is fired, all of the belligerent newsman’s sexist egotism explodes in a volcanic blast of fury.  “It’s either me or the job!” he roars to Veronica.  To Ron’s dismay, Veronica makes the only logical choice.

Thus, our mustachioed protagonist is left to pursue Freddie’s irresistible offer—to join the world’s first twenty-four hour news network (and, in Ron’s words, to “have salon-quality hair and read the news!”).  On paper, it’s the perfect setup for a mock underdog story—when Ron swaggers into the office of the “Global News Network,” he seems doomed to be upstaged by the dashing anchorman Jack Lime (a deliciously snide James Marsden).  But unlike Jack (a suave slime ball who un-ironically deems twenty-four hour news “a journey”), Ron understands exactly how to grasp the public’s imagination—by eschewing actual reporting in favor of stories about cute dogs, car chases, cocaine, and a boisterous credo that “America is the greatest country in the world!” 

The result of Ron’s reporting is a series of ghastly spectacles that makes him not only the foremost anchorman on the network, but a national celebrity as well.  And yet, even as his protagonist’s pomposity swells, Mr. McKay declines to indulge in the mindlessly mad excess that plagues so many mainstream American movies.  He does treat us to some gleefully garish moments (at one joyous juncture, Ron celebrates his popularity by ice skating and playing his ever-notorious Jazz flute), but Mr. McKay’s interest also steers toward a more somber saga—the tale of how Ron becomes a better father to his son Walter (Judah Nelson). 

It goes without saying that Ron and Walter’s bizarre bonding rituals (which primarily involve caring for a ferocious baby shark named Doby) are ruthlessly subjected to the movie’s mocking gaze.  And yet this is one respect in which “Anchorman 2” diverts from the tonal path of similarly rowdy comedies like “Wedding Crashers” and “The Sitter.”  Whereas those movies treat the redemption of the cinematic “bad boy” seriously, “Anchorman 2” portrays Ron’s reformation as a journey just as ridiculously entertaining as his descent into self-absorbed gloating.  The result is a story with an unusually pure moral center, a film that insists not only that Ron should be an attentive husband and father, but that assuming such a role doesn’t have to preclude him from living a justifiably cackle-worthy life (just ask Doby). 

To me, this point is crucial because in a truly satisfying comedy, there is always an element of seriousness amidst the silliness; even “The Hangover” would have meant nothing if its witless heroes had never been forced to confront the depths of their idiocy.  By that count, I think Ron Burgundy would mean nothing without the satire and human drama that Mr. McKay weaves so skillfully into the bright fabric of his film.  Yes, we all love that Ron still thinks he’s “kind of a big deal,” but “Anchorman 2” is that rare farce that doesn’t try to ingest its comedic cake and devour it with its mouth gaping wide open it too.  Indeed, when Ron has to fight an army of savage beasts (including a minotaur!) to reach Walter’s piano recital, I wished for a moment that he could have escaped the brawl and made it to the show on time.  And though it was only a moment, it was there nonetheless, reminding me not only why we want Ron Burgundy, but why, even after almost a decade, we need him too.