Anchorman

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.

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.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

You will laugh. Then you will laugh some more. Then you will laugh still again.

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.

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.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Wonderfully silly all the time.

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.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

The voice-over narration by Bill Kurtis is a stroke of genius.

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.

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

An engagingly knuckleheaded comic vehicle for former Saturday Night Live trouper Will Ferrell.

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.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Most of the time, though, Anchorman works, and a lot of the time it's very funny.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

Anchorman is the kind of wonderful, cotton-candy escapism that should leave you with the right kind of stomachache.

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.

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

Burgundy and Carell's Brick Tamland, by himself, would be worth the price of admission.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Empire Olly Richards

If it were any more manic you’d have to put it on Ritalin.

TV Guide Angel Cohn

The film is wickedly funny and a first-rate showcase for Ferrell.

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.

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.

Village Voice Ed Park

As parody, it's toothless and often smug, but as random Ferrellspeak generator, it has its delights.

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.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Often so silly, it's surreal.

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.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Feels like an extended skit stretched and stretched, maybe not to the breaking point, but to the sagging point.

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.

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.

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.

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.