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Anchorman
EMAILPRINTDreamWorks Distribution LLC

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 38 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 135 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by:
Will Ferrell
Adam McKay
Directed by: Adam McKay
Release Date:
Theatrical: July 9, 2004
DVD: December 28, 2004
Running Time: 91 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for sexual humor, language and comic violence
Starring Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steven Carell, David Koechner, Fred Willard, Chris Parnell, and Kathryn Hahn
Will Ferrell stars as Ron Burgundy, the top-rated anchorman in 70's San Diego, who finds his position threatened by a hotshot young female journalist (Applegate).
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Film Threat Eric Campos
Full force Will Ferrell at his best. And as an added bonus, we all get one of the funniest movies of the year...that is if you don't mind your humor on the rude and crude side.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
It strides above its crudeness like a colossus. It's smart people telling dumb jokes with a brilliant sense of irony. Anchorman gives you permission to laugh like an idiot.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
You will laugh. Then you will laugh some more. Then you will laugh still again.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
To discover why movie fans are screaming for more Will Ferrell, and to savor the work of improv wizards like Carell, go see Anchorman.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
In this context Ferrell seems more than just comic relief. He's a reminder that the greatest, deepest laughter doesn't come at the expense of some other guy, but from the glints of self-recognition we get when the screen becomes our mirror.
Read Full Review >Variety Brian Lowry
Generates enough inspired lunacy to sail past the arid stretches and provide a welcome splash of breezy, at times jaw-droppingly bizarre summer fun.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The voice-over narration by Bill Kurtis is a stroke of genius.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
It takes a while to get used to the film's campy characters and its broad, "Ace Ventura" stylings. But Ferrell is the anti-Jim Carrey -- his deadpan comic mannerisms are infectiously funny, and his cluelessly narcissistic Burgundy is a joy to follow.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
That he can make his anchorman chauvinistic, deluded and ridiculous but still manage to give him some humanity is testimony to Ferrell's comic talents.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
An engagingly knuckleheaded comic vehicle for former Saturday Night Live trouper Will Ferrell.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
It's hard to say whether Anchorman is the funniest movie of the year - it has enough offbeat and gut-busting moments to make it worth consideration in that category.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Most of the time, though, Anchorman works, and a lot of the time it's very funny.
Read Full Review >Premiere Aaron Hillis
Anchorman is the kind of wonderful, cotton-candy escapism that should leave you with the right kind of stomachache.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
There's no sense to the scene in which the boys get together for a close-harmony rendition of "Afternoon Delight" -- just pure pleasure.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Rick Kisonak
Burgundy and Carell's Brick Tamland, by himself, would be worth the price of admission.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
In McKay, Ferrell has found an unusually simpatico collaborator for the type of humor that's made him a comedy force: outsized, unexpectedly sweet, and unrelenting.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
At its best it plays like modern-day Marx Brothers in which every single thing that happens makes no sense and serves no purpose and nothing happens for any reason at all. It exists solely to get a laugh, not to make a point.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt
Does make you laugh even if you hate yourself for doing so. A creation of former "Saturday Night Live" colleagues, the comedy plays like an extended skit with bits of improvisation and several slightly extended sequences.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
What we get is more of the same from Ferrell funny faces, goofy accents, pratfalls aplenty and that ain't bad. It just could have been a lot better.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
The movie may lack a lot of things, but it doesn't lack comic timing--or, in its own way, a nose for the news.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Sloppy, crude, pursuing the most far-flung tangents in hopes of a laugh, Anchorman still gave me more stupid giggles than I'd care to admit.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole
Will Ferrell is a scream, no doubt about it. And Anchorman contains some of his best work. But, Knights of Columbus! Wouldn't it be great if TV-based comedians weren't afraid of making movies that were funnier than they are?
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
It has a pleasing, noodly elasticity about it -- the picture knows what its limits are and proceeds to boogie unself-consciously far outside them.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Angel Cohn
The film is wickedly funny and a first-rate showcase for Ferrell.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
More amusing than annoying. It is not as maniacally uninhibited as "Old School" or as dementedly lovable as "Elf," but its cheerful dumbness is hard to resist.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The movie is funny when it's nasty, as when Ron and Veronica trade insults at the anchor desk. Most of the time, though, it's not nasty enough.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Ed Park
As parody, it's toothless and often smug, but as random Ferrellspeak generator, it has its delights.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
A lazy, self-satisfied piece of work -- a comedy made by people who think so highly of themselves, they assume they'll get a laugh just by showing up in front of the camera.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
I can't help but feel that a funny movie was waiting to be unearthed amid all this self-congratulation and juvenile prankishness.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Feels like an extended skit stretched and stretched, maybe not to the breaking point, but to the sagging point.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The sweet spirit that made last year's "Elf" such a success has curdled considerably.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
Ferrell, of course, has his moments. But he doesn't have an engaging "center" as a comedian.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
Anchorman has one amusing character, a dumb weatherman played by Steve Carell, and a nicely observed set piece about what newscasters really say to one another when they're shuffling papers between segments. Otherwise it's a long string of heavy-footed sight and sound gags.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Imagine a movie where every character is more self-centered than Ted Baxter in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" of old, add a caboodle of idiotic jokes, and you have some idea of this ugly, unfunny farce.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Karen Karbo
Their collective timing is so off that the dead space around their endless bits is like that more commonly experienced during a job interview gone wrong.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 135 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
ratethismovie gave it a5:
It has its moments where you'll laugh but at the end of the day it's a pretty bad movie. Most of the humor is based on the characters behaving really stupid and loud. Throughout the movie it felt like my IQ was going down. If you like over the top humor which would amuse 8 year olds then you'll like it, but if you like humor to have a bit of depth and sophistication to it, then look elsewhere.
boolooloo gave it a10:
Between my 3 friends at school and me we have seen this 43 times. Brilliance from Adam Mckay.
Tj E gave it a9:
A very funny movie. I don't think anyone who appreciates comedy can watch this without laughing once. Be warned however, Anchorman isn't for everybody. People who don't like random jokes or watch movies only for plot will not enjoy Anchorman. Everyone else will fall in love with it.
Clint T. gave it a6:
It’s easy to be charmed by the mock ’70s-ness of this film. The hairstyles are both cool and amusing. Despite this, it isn’t hugely funny and the plot is well worn and hackneyed schlock. Most of the humour is strained and tasteless- not vulgar but without purpose. If this film is on TV, by all means watch it- it isn’t bad but it’s by no means good. Unless this film is on TV, don’t go out of your way to view it and for the love of God, don’t spend money on it. It failed to live up to expectations which is why I’m giving it a 6 out of 10.
aimee gave it a10:
This film is hilarious, will farrel is one funny man, I could watch this film over and over and it would never get old. Two phumbs up.
Jesus C. gave it a10:
Extremely funny. Will Ferrel's best by far.
Justin P. gave it a9:
One of my all time favourite comedies.
