“A sequel is an admission that you've been reduced to imitating yourself.”
-- Don Marquis
-- Don Marquis
Ferrell as Burgundy The law of sequels is in full play here. The action shifting from San Diego to New York is actually a fairly apt analogy for this movie's progression from the original. Everything gets bigger, louder, more expensive, and more absurd, but loses a little charm from the charm of the original. It has, however, gained the confidence of knowing exactly what it is and isn't. It's not "Arrested Development". These will not be jokes with nuance or subtlety. There will be hits to the balls, jokes about naming someone "Anus", grand fights between news teams, and cameos galore. There will be dolphins, sharks, and even a minotaur; oh my!
(although seriously, are you that concerned with remaining unspoiled on the plot?)
Applegate as Corningstone We begin with the news team having broken up except for Ron and Veronica, and her promotion partnered with his firing set in motion the events of the rest of the movie. After Ron is offered a job at a fledgling news channel, we get a quicker than expected roadtrip for Ron to reunite the news crew and take them with him to New York. The location will be sort of inconsequential as even characters you would've thought left behind in San Diego, will show up if a joke necessitates their presence.
The main jokes hit the same high as in the original, but probably more often, which is good, because the side jokes fall flat. Champ needed to be completely rewritten, since other than David Koechner still being the one to portray him, he doesn't even feel like the same character from the original. Brick gets featured much more heavily (which makes complete sense given Steve Carell's increased notoriety), and yet it feels like they didn't do enough with him and his budding romance with his female counterpart: an equally dim-witted office assistant played by Kristen Wiig. Paul Rudd's Brian is still the spokesman for Ron's underlings, but the sequel's equivalent to the "Sex Panther" scene from the original just doesn't work as well.
The main jokes hit the same high as in the original, but probably more often, which is good, because the side jokes fall flat. Champ needed to be completely rewritten, since other than David Koechner still being the one to portray him, he doesn't even feel like the same character from the original. Brick gets featured much more heavily (which makes complete sense given Steve Carell's increased notoriety), and yet it feels like they didn't do enough with him and his budding romance with his female counterpart: an equally dim-witted office assistant played by Kristen Wiig. Paul Rudd's Brian is still the spokesman for Ron's underlings, but the sequel's equivalent to the "Sex Panther" scene from the original just doesn't work as well.
Carell as Tamland All of these are minor detractions though, as the lion's share of screen time is still spent on Ron Burgundy and his growth or lack thereof. Beyond that, what more is there to say? In comedies, the jokes will carry the day, and plot holes or vanilla directing choices will have little effect on how people remember the movie. When stacked up against other great comedies, Anchorman 2 seems less adept at knowing which bits will work vs. the ones that won't, and sometimes tries to hang on to a joke a little longer than it should, but especially given the alternative of the terrible looking Grudge Match, seeing this one instead is a no-brainer.
A great comedy that loses a little charm from the original, but takes the absurdism to new heights
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