There’s that newsman

Will Ferrell is kind of a gentile nouveau Andy Kaufman. Although Ferrell is already more successful than Kaufman ever was during his lifetime, the two share a distinct quality: a total lack of fear in their performances. Ferrell, like the wavy-haired iconoclast before him, simply doesn’t care if you think he’s funny. He’d like it if you laughed, but will be just fine if you don’t.

In that sense, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is a perfect vehicle for Ferrell. Cowritten by the comedian with director Adam McKay (who wrote for Saturday Night Live while Ferrell was a cast member), the movie mirrors Ferrell’s comic sensibility to an almost scary degree.

There is a difference between not caring what the audience thinks and having absolutely no regard for them. Dumb and Dumberer (and too many other films to mention) is in that latter category. Anchorman has many stupendously unfunny moments to go along with its considerable humorous ones. But instead of insulting you as a viewer, the duds leave you feeling almost in awe. The way you might have felt when the class clown gave your science teacher a wedgie just before he was expelled for life.

Ferrell is Ron Burgundy, San Diego’s most popular anchorman in the 1970s. With his perfect hair and omnipresent mustache, the newsman rules the airwaves along with his trusty team (Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner). That all changes when beautiful and talented reporter Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) joins the station. At first relegated to the usual fluff pieces (cat fashion shows, for instance), Veronica insists on being treated like a real journalist. She gets her chance when Ron has a run-in with a biker (Jack Black, in a hilarious cameo). Things go from bad to worse for Ron, who finds himself unemployed after he accidentally curses on the air.

Two of the film’s more brilliant scenes involve a conversation between a vicious bear and a dog, and a gang war that takes the term "ratings wars" literally.

Aside from Ferrell, Applegate is very good, as are the supporting players. Tim Robbins turns in an amusing cameo as a pipe-smoking PBS anchorman.

But your enjoyment of this movie has absolutely everything to do with your taste for Ferrell. If you don’t like him, you will not like Anchorman. It’s that simple.

But if you do like Ferrell or even if you are on the fence, then you are probably in for quite a treat. A silly treat, but a treat nonetheless.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
PG-13
Starting tomorrow at area theaters
Two-and-a-half reels out of four 

Recommended Rental

Never Die Alone
R
Available Tuesday

From former Spike Lee cinematographer-turned-director Ernest Dickerson (Do the Right Thing, Malcom X) comes this adaptation of a novel by former gangster-turned-cult author Donald Goines. Keeping up with the hyphenates, rapper-turned-action hero DMX takes a decidedly different role as King David, a feared gang kingpin. King David returns to his hometown looking for redemption, but finds death instead. The film is told in flashbacks after a journalist (David Arquette) finds King David’s taped journal after the gang leader’s death.