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Anchorman

 
 
Seth
11:01 / 15.09.04
I saw this on Saturday night. Oh my God.

It was about a quarter to a third of the way through before this movie grabbed me. But when it did, I didn't stop laughing for the whole rest of the film. And I was properly in tears in a few places.

It seems to be entirely made of the kind of alternate takes and improvisation that we saw Will Ferrell doing on the Zoolander out-takes. Some of these scenes are crackling with dumb energy, surreal imagination and pin point timing, and these are played against some of the funniest set-pieces I've ever seen (the Battle of the Anchormen hurt my ribs).

I don't think this is for everyone. But it's definitely for me.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
11:13 / 15.09.04
Oh, and it's definitely for me, it's the most hilarious comedy I've seen at the cinema for a long, long time, full of immensely quotable lines and an absolutely awesome supporting cast.

I really want to get all my friends to like this, because everybody I've spoken to seems to think this is a massively unimpressive film on the strength of the trailer alone ("I don't like Will Ferrel" "Oh, that bit where he does a cannonball looks dead funny" etc), but they just don't know! It's not "Paparazzi", guys, seeing the trailer isn't like seeing the whole movie!

I'M IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTION
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
11:19 / 15.09.04
I love lamp. I love Brick.
 
 
Seth
11:57 / 15.09.04
It smells like Bigfoot's dick!
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
13:24 / 15.09.04
<-------- As you can see, I'm a fan, especially of Brian Fantana.

But, yeah, the entire movie killed me. It seems pretty polarizing as I know people who laughed once or twice or even walked out, where as I was in pain afterwards because I laughed the entire way through. Hard.

Something to salivate over in DVD country, this, from an interview with McKay, Ferrell, et al, made me laugh so unstoppably:

Koechner: They’re all meeting in the cafeteria to plot against Veronica, and the way you shot it, you get right away that it’s surreptitious. It’s just low angles, and tight shots on their faces, and it goes all the way around the table, and they’re all just adamant...

Ferrell: “She’s got to be stopped. She HAS to be.”

Koechner: ... and I’m sure it’ll show up on the DVD.

Ferrell: “She’s writing her own stories! I didn’t even know you could do that!”

Koechner: ... and then there’s this whole other comedy piece that takes over in the end. It’s just beautiful.

Ferrell: Yeah, finally at the end of the scene, someone’s like, “By the way, Brick, what is that you’re eating?”

McKay: And he’s like, “Oh, it’s just one of those falafel hot dogs with M&Ms on it.”

Koechner: “With bacon bits and cinnamon.”

McKay: And it’s like, “What do you mean ‘one of those’? Those don’t exist. That’s a used coffee filter.” And he’s like, “I got it out of the food basket at the end of the line there.”

Ferrell: “Brick, that’s a garbage can.”

Koechner: I loved how he would just laugh, then go back to eating it.

Ferrell: “Well, with the food around here, I might as well be eating garbage,” and he’s just laugh and then keep eating.

McKay: He was frickin’ hilarious.

Koechner: What killed me was the way you would go way down, then way back up with it. “What do you mean one of thooooooooooose? Thooooooooose don’t exist.” That to me was funnier than anything else, because when...

McKay: I miss that scene a lot. That was a funny scene.


Fucking classic.

"THEY'RE PUTTING VERONICA CORNINGSTONE ON THE AIR."
 
 
miss wonderstarr
16:32 / 15.09.04
Hey I went to see this movie instead of HELLBOY today because of YOU, Seth -- thanks!

I found it just slightly hit and miss, ie. 10% of the gags flopped, but for around an hour I was almost constantly grinning and that, for a sourpuss like me, is good value comedy.

During the "I love lamp" sequence I really wished I was there with someone else (I had gone alone, after work) so we could laff about it afterwards and do impressions of him, as a kind of in-joke running gag.

And their singing was pretty glorious.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
16:50 / 15.09.04
Afternoon Delight was indeed delightful, but it couldn't hold a candle to this moment from the Jazz Flute freakdown:

Dee-doo-doo-doo-dee-doo
"AWWWW, AQUALUNG!"
 
 
Hieronymus
18:43 / 15.09.04
3 times now I've seen it and I swear it just gets funnier every time.

"God it's sooo hot..... Milk was a bad choice"

And the bear and Baxter. That, by far, was the most hilarious thing I've seen in a long time. It's not often that I want to own a comedy. But I can't wait for this to come out on DVD.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
19:10 / 15.09.04
"Oh, and of course, my best friend Baxter, here. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to him."
 
 
miss wonderstarr
20:32 / 15.09.04
"We should mate."
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
22:36 / 15.09.04
*Kindly Shrug*
"Agree to disagree."
 
 
Seth
00:38 / 16.09.04
I saw it by myself too, kovacs. Wish I'd seen it with someone else, I might see it a second time to do just that.

It beats seven shades of shite out of Hellboy.

I forgot about the milk joke. That totally slew me in the cinema.
 
 
madfigs #32, now with wasabi
08:06 / 16.09.04
There was an incredibly amusing interview with the cast a while back with some more about the deleted scenes:

Q: You must have had an eight hour rough cut.

Adam: Eight hours? That would be amazing. We did have a four-hour cut of the movie. We're going to put out a DVD with all of it. We literally had enough extra footage, we made a whole, second movie called Wake Up, Ron Burgundy. I'm actually not kidding. That is not a joke. It's absolutely true. It's an hour and forty minute second movie of entirely fresh material that will eventually be put out on DVD.
 
 
miss wonderstarr
08:06 / 16.09.04
"Fly casual."

Hey thank goodness for internet boards so loner/losers like me and Seth can shoot the bull after a funny movie!
 
 
Seth
08:52 / 16.09.04
Jesus. You demonstrate some solidarity and get branded a loner/loser for it. Fuck you, fuckball.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
13:21 / 16.09.04
LOUD NOISES.
 
 
CameronStewart
17:06 / 16.09.04
Anchorman is indeed the finest comedy I've seen in as long as I can remember.

Here's a 5 page thread (over on my, er, *other* message board) composed of nothing but quotes from the movie. When you can do 5 pages of quotes, it's a great comedy.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
17:36 / 17.09.04
I absolutely love Anchorman. Cameron basically nailed it, you just can't have that many great gags without being a top notch comedy.

My favorite jokes are the thing about the whale's vagina and bit about the trident.
 
 
Sunny
19:22 / 17.09.04
this is my favorite movie right now, I think I was laughing the most out of everyone there when I saw it.

that part where Baxter saves Ron and Veronica was great and so worth it just to hear the audience's "ohhhh..."

it just made so much sense to me.

the newscaster battle royale was totally rad, with the Planet Of The Apes net thing and the Spartacus arm chopping off part and of course the trident.

my friend hurt himself at work and blurted out "Great knights of Columbus, that hurt!" and everyone just stared at him blankly.

I think that it was directed really well as opposed to other comedies that have a sketchy feel to them.
 
 
Seth
12:42 / 19.09.04
"People call me the Bryman, the stylish one of the group. I know what youre asking yourself and yes i have a nickname for my penis. It's called the Octagon. I've also named my testicles. This one is named Jeffery Stevens, and the other one is named Dr. Kenneth Noiseworthy."
 
 
FinderWolf
14:41 / 19.09.05
I finally got around to this and absolutely loved it. But where oh where is the entire second movie/1 hr. 45. min. thing they promised would be in the extras? Then I again, I got it on Netflix so maybe there's a second disc I don't have? But there are tons of extras on the first disc, so maybe there isn't a second disc...
 
 
CameronStewart
15:31 / 19.09.05
There's a special edition that had a second disc called "Wake Up, Ron Burgundy."

It's basically a loose story cobbled together from outtakes, adlibs, and an excised subplot involving terrorist bank robbers (like the SLA) who kidnap Veronica.

All I can say is that all the material that makes up this second film was cut out of the main film with good reason. I love Anchorman to death but barely cracked a smile when watching WU,RB. It's not worth tracking down.
 
 
CameronStewart
15:33 / 19.09.05
 
 
Seth
16:19 / 19.09.05
All I can say is that all the material that makes up this second film was cut out of the main film with good reason. I love Anchorman to death but barely cracked a smile when watching WU,RB. It's not worth tracking down.

You're fucking kidding me?

What about the love confessional in the car that goes on for far, far too long? What about the botched bank job that ends with the genius, "You're all just a bunch of dicks"? What about the cannabalism scene and "dreams of Fantana"? Ron's inept mentor? What about "Looks like the captain's back"? Chuck D's bizarre role?

Good fucking Lord. Ron's attempt to read without an autocue is probably the single funniest scene I've ever seen bar Owen Wilson's fucked up television interview in the Tenenbaums. It's well worth spending years tracking down this DVD to see it. Cam is off his fucking rocker.

"......washcloth"
 
 
CameronStewart
16:21 / 19.09.05
>>>What about the love confessional in the car that goes on for far, far too long?<<<

Ah, you're right, actually that bit is priceless.

The rest, though - yeah, I still didn't find it funny.

But, you know, humour, subjective and all that...
 
 
Seth
16:42 / 19.09.05
Rewatch it in good company. So much of that shit is funnier second and third time round.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
17:13 / 19.09.05
Plot-wise, yeah, it's wretched but I'll echo the praise of the cannibal scene and the incredible driving scene. ("And, there's a good grocery store, if you're looking for one.")

The cannibal scene alone probably has my favorite Farrell performance of both movies. "BRICK! JUST SHUT UP! FOR A SECOND!" The way he sort of crumples himself up in fury and hunger. Just fucking incredible. Not to mention Rudd in that scene. Oh, man. I've got to watch it again now.
 
  
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