Movies: Anchorman
Kristen's and my tastes in movies overlaps at some points, but not completely. For example, I like science fiction/fantasy, historical movies, dark comedies, and experimental narrative techniques (i.e. making sense is not absolutely required). Also, violence doesn't really bother me if its done in the service of a good story.
Kristen prefers other things. As a result, the point where our tastes overlap is in dramas and comedies. This makes a trip to the local Blockbuster an exercise in suspense. Will Kristen instantly groan as she sees what I have chosen to rent? Whether or not she groans, will it actually be good?
This week I rented "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," violating one of my guidelines for renting videos/dvds in the process. That guideline? "Never rent anything in which a 'Saturday Night Live' alumnus is prominently featured."
In this case, the guideline can be safely violated.
Wil Ferrell of "Saturday Night Live" stars as Ron Burgundy, the lead anchorman at a local tv station during the 1970's. He's confronted with the most horrible of all possibilities--the thought that a woman might be hired as a reporter and actually want to move forward in her career. Worse, she might want to do it at his station and do his job.
Fortunately for the viewers, the movie does not turn into an exercise in beating up on sexism. Though the movie's plot does use the gender issues of the 1970's to move the story along, I found the movie constantly funny. I'd love to give details, but I don't really want to give away any of the jokes. Anyway, they're much harder to convey in print than on the screen.
That being said, the characters were amazingly funny by themselves. I liked the weatherman ("Brick") and the sports reporter ("Champ") in particular.
One thing I really liked about the movie is the ability of the writers to take an absurd situation and make it consistently more absurd, successfully getting humor out of tv news rivalries, gender issues, and (if you listen carefully) 70's era music.
I liked the fight scene a lot. You may be wondering why there would be a fight scene in a movie about newscasters. I still don't know, but it was funny.
If you're looking for a comedy, I recommend it.