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Created Jun 30, 2008 03:53AM PST • Edited Jun 30, 2008 03:53AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   This is the best comedy I’ve ever seen, and unless they make a decent and insane sequel, it will probably be the best comedy I’ll ever see. Will Ferrell has not been as good since, and I’m not sure he can ever be better than he is as Ron Burgundy.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   The male quartet are flawless here, each playing such a mad ‘70s archetype that you hardly realise they’ve been so good elsewhere. Christina Applegate more than holds her own as probably the most normal character within the film, but the News Team steal the film.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

   Will Ferrell channels all his insanity and surrealism into the chauvinist and retarded Ron Burgundy, and creates a comic character that is pure madness. What he succeeds most with here is the total smugness and disgrace with which Burgundy acts towards any other person; he is the best, and no-one else can ever tell him otherwise. Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell are equally fantastic as the lady’s man Brian Fantana and mentally retarded weatherman Brick. Rudd actually showed to me here that he was a more than capable comedic actor, and he’s gone on to bigger things largely thanks to this performance. Carrell does steal it a little from Ferrell, and I’ve found it hard to watch him after this performance without picturing him saying “I love lamp”.

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

   Christina Applegate is the woman in a man’s film and a man’s newsroom, and as the straight woman (in that she is up against these insane charicatures) she does really well, and shows a comedic side that I had only seen of her in Friends (much like Rudd actually). She plays the part of a woman trying to find her way in a male-dominated business very well, but the comedic scenes with Ferrell are the strongest.

7. Female Costars OK 2.5

   There really aren’t any, and I guess it does fit with the story, but there maybe could have been girlfriends for the main stars, which I think could have really added to the humour within the film.

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

   Fred Willard, Chris Parnell and various others (including Danny Trejo) do incredibly well to go up against the News Team quartet, Willard in particular showing an ability to portray serious and comic almost simultaneously as the boss of the News Team.

   The anchorman battle in the middle features the best group of cameos ever, with Vince Vaughn adding to his other scenes as rival anchor Wes Mantooth, and Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and the legendary Tim Robbins come together to make a scene that stays long in the memory for its incredibly surreal outcomes!!!

10. Film

    Great 4.0

    You can see the film was set in the ’70s, but San Diego never seems to be in films much, and I really got a feel for the city watching this film. The music is good, with some classic songs featured. But what is best is the dialogue, the lines so effortlessly quotable that it almost seems there are quotes to be found in every single scene.

11. Direction Great 4.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

    Some of my favourite movie quotes have come from this film, which is where Ferrell seems to have found his niche. The seriousness with which the cast say some of the lines only adds to the hilarity, and many of the quotes will be known to people who haven’t seen the film, a true indication of the genius in the comedy writing here.

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Great 4.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 2.9

    Swearing and a little bit of violence. Sex is stepped around in the most bizarre manner here, with a little help from Tom Jones and unicorns. Yes, really.

17. Sex Erotic 3.1

18. Violence Fierce 2.4

    The anchorman fight is really all there is, with one unlucky anchor losing body parts in quite a grisly manner. And that’s really all there is!

19. Rudeness Profane 3.1

    Many of the lines are downright rude or chauvinist for those who are easily offended!

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.7

    Like Semi-Pro, the film’s action begins in a believable manner, but the disclaimer says it all at the start:

    “The following film is based on real events. Only the names, places and locations have been changed.”

    From there on in you can try to see that some of it would be real, and the idea of the chauvinistic workplace is a real one. But when a man communicates with his dog about cheese, another kills a man with a trident in an anchorman brawl, and the climactic scene is saved by a dog and a bear communicating to make peace, you know you’re in surreal and fantastical territory.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.7

23. Biological Surreal 2.7

24. Physical Surreal 2.7