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Thread: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Adam McKay)

  1. #1
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (Adam McKay)

    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
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  2. #2
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    Absolutely fucking awful.

    This might be the most disappointing sequel I can remember in a while. The comic timing in a lot of the one-liners fall so flat it's shocking that this is the product of these pros who have worked so much with each other for so long with some great results.

    This is a really, really bad example of Flanderization with how they've treated Ron, Champ, and Brick. Ron spends so much of the movie doing that baby talk and gibberish way of talking that it ceases to be funny almost immediately. Champ's brushed-aside closeted attraction to Ron that was his most memorable scene in the first one is repeated ad nauseum here and unnecessarily commented on. Brick has it worst, though. Jesus, 70% of Steve Carrell's lines in the movie are just loud noises. Thank god for Rudd, who reined it in a bit. I laughed the most at Brian Fantana's lines.

    I'm also not surprised to know that they shot 4 hours of material and just picked and chose for the final cut. The story is all over the place and there's barely a clear indication of what the fuck it wants to be about. Hour and a half into the movie, I still didn't know which of the 4-5 simultaneous plots it was going to climax with.
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
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  3. #3
    Best Boy
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    :|

  4. #4
    Alone again, naturally eternity's Avatar
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    If Wet Hot American Summer is the home run of gonzo-nonsense comedy, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a double that gets caught in a pickle headed to third. I'm prepared to like it a lot more as time progresses, like I did with Step Brothers, The Other Guys, and even the first Anchorman. As it stands right now, that was the best comedy of the year, albeit it's been a weak year for comedy as a whole.

  5. #5
    Producer Lucky's Avatar
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    The shark song and the fight sequence were both grand scale misfires. I enjoyed Brick when he was courting Wiig's character.

  6. #6
    Alone again, naturally eternity's Avatar
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    If you don't think [
    ] is funny, then I just don't understand you.

  7. #7
    In the belly of a whale Henry Gale's Avatar
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    I've had no power for the past few days (damn you Torontoooo) and this is the last movie I saw right before that all happened (and even then the theatre lost power for 10 mins during it), so I've thought about this a lot since...

    Nowhere near atrocious, but certainly so stunningly misguided and spread too thinly that it's hard to outright enjoy for more than a few minutes at a time. The last half hour might contain my favourite bits, most of them as over-the-top and unpredictable as I wish the rest had been (and reminding me of the blissful rush of seeing the original in the theatre for the very first time almost a decade ago), but even then it's all a bit too little too late, especially since it also peppers in completely counterproductive, completely unfunny and pointless bits of things like Linda Jackson / Australian boss conflicts. It just seems like it has no idea what it wants to be (except decidedly not the first film), and maybe an endless hours-upon-hours cut divided into episodes (shopped to television) might have made more sense of its endless plotlines, tonal shifts and thematic musings, all while delivering more jokes and a new format, but as it is in a two hour form, it's shapeless and only intermittently easy to enjoy.

    Is it fair to still be able to laugh for maybe a collective one-third to a half of a film but still feel entirely let down by it? Because this movie somehow finds a way, and I like to think it's not an irrational wish that McKay and Ferrell could have made something as close to the original in comedic and narrative style and still have it be fresh, and I do commend the film for attempting to be so entirely unlike the first that it almost feels like a different universe (starting from scratch and kind of failing), but in that same mission it loses most of its charm and rhythm. It oddly goes for a more grounded world to have the characters play in, but makes them all exaggerated, overly loud and simplistic versions of themselves. And just like my laughter, it works in spurts, but ultimately gains little traction.

    If I were to really pry to find a philosophically technical way to explain the upended and mostly inert nature of this sequel, the best I can do is say first film was an early 2000's charmingly (shottily) telecined candy-coloured, jauntily framed, 1.85:1 and 35mm shot live-action cartoon that made room for characters that acted somewhat naturalistically to be offset by oddities of how the filmic world they were in loved every whim of its titular character without any real need for the audience to understand. Here, we have an early 2010's, dimly lit, stiltedly framed (stationary to allow for constant improvisation and re-setting of close-ups, no doubt) 2.40:1 hazily, digitally shot weirdly dark dramedy cut between flashes of the cartoonish tone of the original where it seems to need to find ways to justify to the audience how Burgundy deserves his accolades and fame in ways that still don't quite make sense, especially when he bounces between being a complete squealing idiot to prophetic newsman and moral guide for the story with no believability behind it.

    It's a letdown, but I'm now even more curious to see the pieces of what might have formally been in it at some point but ultimately excised since they probably wouldn't have been any more or less inconsequential, as well as the one or more alternate/extended cuts they've already pieced together for it. Maybe television is the medium for the news team to thrive (both in their fictional '80s and our current real world), since they clearly have more ideas than one feature film or single sitting at a time could ever really allowed to make effective, compelling sense of.

    ** to **½ / 5.6
    Last 11 things I really enjoyed:

    Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
    Safe (Haynes, 1995)
    South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
    Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
    Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
    What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
    Diva (Beineix, 1981)
    Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
    The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
    Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
    Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)

  8. #8
    Scott of the Antarctic Milky Joe's Avatar
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    Can't relate to anyone in this thread. I thought it was really, really solid, maybe better than the original. the beginning was nonstop hilarity until the plot started to kick in and the flat boss-lady/rival anchorman characters got involved, then it was more intermittent hilarity. 'Dobey' had me struggling to breathe. I can't imagine thinking about it more than that.
    ‎The severed arm perfectly acquitted itself, because of the simplicity of its wishes and its total lack of doubt.

  9. #9
    Moratorium on random-cameo-pileups, plz.

    This was mostly pretty lame, laughed a few times but can't remember at what.

  10. #10
    i am the great went ledfloyd's Avatar
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    I liked it a lot. The plot is a bit haphazard sure, but the underlying theme about how 24-hour news networks have dumbed down discourse is more than a lot of comedies have going on thematically.

    The stuff with Linda Jackson did not work, but aside from that, I was laughing quite a bit. Dug Kristen Wiig. Favorite gag? The news crew laughing hysterically at a Garfield book.

    I agree with Eternity inre [
    ] and would add [
    ]

  11. #11
    Cinematographer Mal's Avatar
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    I laughed consistently so this doesn't suck. Better than the first film.

  12. #12
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    A completely different version of this movie is being released in theaters next week. :|
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
    Movie Theater Diary

  13. #13
    Ain't that just the way EyesWideOpen's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting number8 (view post)
    A completely different version of this movie is being released in theaters next week. :|
    Well it can only be better than the version they previously released.
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  14. #14
    Screenwriter Lazlo's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting EyesWideOpen (view post)
    Well it can only be better than the version they previously released.
    You mean with the stuff that was deemed not good enough to include the first go-'round? Can't see how that would be an improvement.
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  15. #15
    Ain't that just the way EyesWideOpen's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Lazlo (view post)
    You mean with the stuff that was deemed not good enough to include the first go-'round? Can't see how that would be an improvement.
    I mean the original release was shit so this can't possibly be worse.
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  16. #16
    Screenwriter Lazlo's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting EyesWideOpen (view post)
    I mean the original release was shit so this can't possibly be worse.
    And I mean that shit can always get shittier.
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  17. #17
    In the belly of a whale Henry Gale's Avatar
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    Well McKay's been talking about this since before it was released before, so happy that it actually came to fruition.

    It's R-rated (which was something they said they fought with constantly with the MPAA in the final stretch of the editing process despite the humour not being that different from the first), it has 763 alternate jokes, and is 20 minutes longer (including new sequences like that musical number you see in the trailers). These things don't automatically equal better by any means, but it's certainly as different as I could imagine they could make it.

    Also, considering the weird test screening process they used to select the gags for the theatrical release, including literally recording the volume levels for laughs between different versions, I have no idea how much truer to McKay and Ferrell's true comedic instincts this might be, but I dunno, I want to see it.
    Last 11 things I really enjoyed:

    Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
    Safe (Haynes, 1995)
    South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
    Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
    Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
    What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
    Diva (Beineix, 1981)
    Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
    The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
    Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
    Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)

  18. #18
    pushing too many pencils Rowland's Avatar
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    Steve Carell's performance in this is so jarringly terrible that comparing its hackitude to his brilliant underplaying of the role in the first movie is actively depressing.

    Quote Quoting Henry Gale (view post)
    is 20 minutes longer.
    No thank you.
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  19. #19
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Best part was [
    ]
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    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Uwe Boll movies > all Marvel U movies
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  20. #20
    U ZU MA KI Spun Lepton's Avatar
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    Well, I didn't think it was the disaster many seemed to think, but I'm glad I didn't waste my money seeing it in the theater. I laughed really hard at the slow-motion bus crash and thought the cameo-filled final scene was rather inspired, but outside of that ... meh.

  21. #21
    U ZU MA KI Spun Lepton's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Rowland (view post)
    Steve Carell's performance in this is so jarringly terrible that comparing its hackitude to his brilliant underplaying of the role in the first movie is actively depressing.
    His character was actively irritating this time around, yeah. And why make Koechner's character a huge bigot this time? Was he like that in the first?

  22. #22
    Too much responsibility Kurosawa Fan's Avatar
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    One of the worst films I've seen in a looooooonnnnnnnngggggg time, and I'm a fan of the first film. I think I laughed twice, and they were very fleeting laughs. The jokes are so lame. I'm embarrassed for everyone involved, especially Ferrell, Carrell, and Wiig. I had low expectations going in, but this was so far beneath them. Fuck it was bad.

    EDIT: Oh, this movie was so bad it almost made me hate Tina Fey and Amy Poehler momentarily. Seriously, the constantly rehashing of jokes was just pathetic.

  23. #23
    pushing too many pencils Rowland's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Kurosawa Fan (view post)
    EDIT: Oh, this movie was so bad it almost made me hate Tina Fey and Amy Poehler momentarily. Seriously, the constantly rehashing of jokes was just pathetic.
    While that entire sequence was embarrassingly forced, the moment they appeared was so smugly self-satisfied that it made me actively recoil in my chair. It's nice to see that I'm not the only 1-star rating around here anymore. I know people who actually prefer this over the original. The horror... the horror...
    Letterboxd rating scale:
    The Long Riders (Hill) ***
    Furious 7 (Wan) **½
    Hard Times (Hill) ****½
    Another 48 Hrs. (Hill) ***
    /48 Hrs./ (Hill) ***½
    The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (Besson) ***
    /Unknown/ (Collet-Serra) ***½
    Animal (Simmons) **

  24. #24
    Scott of the Antarctic Milky Joe's Avatar
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    I was high. I laughed a lot. I went home. Good times.
    ‎The severed arm perfectly acquitted itself, because of the simplicity of its wishes and its total lack of doubt.

  25. #25
    Replacing Luck Since 1984 Dukefrukem's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Kurosawa Fan (view post)
    One of the worst films I've seen in a looooooonnnnnnnngggggg time, and I'm a fan of the first film. I think I laughed twice, and they were very fleeting laughs. The jokes are so lame. I'm embarrassed for everyone involved, especially Ferrell, Carrell, and Wiig. I had low expectations going in, but this was so far beneath them. Fuck it was bad.

    EDIT: Oh, this movie was so bad it almost made me hate Tina Fey and Amy Poehler momentarily. Seriously, the constantly rehashing of jokes was just pathetic.
    I lowered my star because of this post.
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    Quote Quoting D_Davis (view post)
    Uwe Boll movies > all Marvel U movies
    Quote Quoting TGM (view post)
    I work in grocery. I have not gotten sick. My fellow employees have not gotten sick. If the virus were even remotely as contagious as its being presented as, why haven’t entire store staffs who come into contact with hundreds of people per day, thousands per week, all falling ill in mass nationwide?

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