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Anchorman
DreamWorks Distribution LLC

Anchorman reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 63 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.6 out of 10
based on 38 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 127 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA 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).


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: Will Ferrell
Adam McKay
 
DIRECTED BY: Adam McKay  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: December 28, 2004 
Video: December 28, 2004 
Theatrical: July 9, 2004 
RUNNING TIME: 91 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

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...

100
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.
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90
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
90
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
You will laugh. Then you will laugh some more. Then you will laugh still again.
Read Full Review
88
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
80
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
80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Wonderfully silly all the time.
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80
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
80
Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The voice-over narration by Bill Kurtis is a stroke of genius.
Read Full Review
75
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
75
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
75
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
An engagingly knuckleheaded comic vehicle for former Saturday Night Live trouper Will Ferrell.
Read Full Review
75
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
75
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
75
Premiere Aaron Hillis
Anchorman is the kind of wonderful, cotton-candy escapism that should leave you with the right kind of stomachache.
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75
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
70
Film Threat Rick Kisonak
Burgundy and Carell's Brick Tamland, by himself, would be worth the price of admission.
Read Full Review
70
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
70
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
70
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
67
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
63
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
63
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
63
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
60
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
60
Empire Olly Richards
If it were any more manic you’d have to put it on Ritalin.
Read Full Review
60
TV Guide Angel Cohn
The film is wickedly funny and a first-rate showcase for Ferrell.
Read Full Review
60
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
58
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
50
Village Voice Ed Park
As parody, it's toothless and often smug, but as random Ferrellspeak generator, it has its delights.
Read Full Review
50
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.
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50
New York Post Megan Lehmann
Often so silly, it's surreal.
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50
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
50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Feels like an extended skit stretched and stretched, maybe not to the breaking point, but to the sagging point.
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50
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
The sweet spirit that made last year's "Elf" such a success has curdled considerably.
42
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
40
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
25
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
25
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

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 127 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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.

Ian M. gave it a10:
The arousal this movie gave me was painful in its intensity.

Sophie gave it a9:
Fantastic comedy.. just turn your brain off and enjoy the ride. Some of the lines are priceless and instant classics. I can watch this movie again and again and not get bored.

Dick O. gave it a10:
To be honest, i cant handle to much dumbass comedy like Adam Sandler as such but this was in a whole different class of dumbass, absolute class.

Read more user comments...

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