Will Ferrell Takes on ‘70s-style TV News
July 8, 2004 — -- Now in theaters: Anchorman, King Arthur, The Clearing and De-Lovely.
Anchorman
I was there, back in the early 1970s, when an anchorperson said on the air: "The pope today beautified a caramelize nun."
And I was there when an anchorman forgot his name. His initials scrolled by on the last line of the TelePrompTer, and he couldn't remember what they stood for. Other than that, any other resemblance between Will Ferrell and any actual anchorman who has ever been on television is probably true.
Ferrell is Ron Burgundy, a disco-era local TV anchorman from San Diego who cares more about his teeth than what comes out of his mouth. Even the East German judge would give this performance a 10, with special kudos to Steve Carell as the TV weatherman with a self-confessed IQ of 48.
Christina Applegate plays the aggressive journalist who tries to become the first woman on Ferrell's all-male news team. That's what happens. I won't call it a story. There isn't a plot.This is a Saturday Night Live sketch stretched to feature length. There's no ending.
Ferrell is the latest in a long line of Saturday Night Live comics — from Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi to Eddie Murphy to Adam Sandler — to make the transition to movie superstar.
But come on, even back in the '70s we didn't really wear big hair and mustaches and bad suits. Did we? Grade: B
King Arthur
Unfortunately, if you want the "happily ever after" for these knights, you'll have to go out and rent Camelot. This version of King Arthur ends before that happens. The Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot love triangle has been lanced.
This Jerry Bruckheimer movie purports to tell the true story of King Arthur. Many think he's just a myth. This story is based on archaeological evidence, as we're told when the movie starts, which might be Hollywood-speak for "the script sinks like a rock."
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