| Overall Grade: |
B- |
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| Story: |
B- |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
B- |
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| Visuals: |
C- |
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Just want to know what the movie is about?
by Yahoo! Movies User (movies profile)
Nov 21, 2006
16
of
24 people found this review helpful
For those of you who just want to know the basic premise of the movie, here's the break down:
OVERVIEW
The movie is set in the 70's, but revolves around a cocky 50's-style gang of four men who call themselves "The News Team" instead of, say "The Outsiders" (S.E. Hilton's novel) or "The Sharks" (West Side Story) or "The Burger Palace Boys" (Grease). The movie focuses on making the gang look ridiculous, much like the clueless brothers in A Night at the Roxbury (also starring Will Ferrell). The gang consists of anchorman Ron Burgundy, roving news reporter Brian Fantana, sportscaster Champ Kind and weatherman Brick Tamland.
THE GANG
1. Mr. Burgundy (Will Ferrell) is the gang-leader of "The News Team," and the rest of the gang worships him as such. A Will Ferrell character as the tough-guy, authoritative leader doesn't work as well as when Ferrell's character was not in charge (think "Hank the Tank" from Old School). Neither does a Will Ferrell character as a macho, stubborn chauvinist work as well as when Ferrell plays a boyish, overeager character (think "Elf" or "Craig the Spartan Cheerleader" or Ferrell's portrayal of President Bush).
2. Fantana (Paul Rudd) is the wolfish pretty boy of the group (the self-proclaimed "stylish one"). This role worked well for the dark-eyed good looking Rudd (who played Alicia Silverstone's stepbrother in Clueless).
3. Champ (David Koechner - appearing in his first big-ticket movie) is the urban cowboy (yes he always wears his Stetson cowboy hat) with a good-ol'-boy sensibility. This role was disappointing, especially since it could have easily been played by Chris Parnell (who, instead only had an extremely minor role as the assistant station executive).
4. Brick (Steve Carell) is, well, brick-dumb. His whole role consists of just saying the most retarded thing possible whenever he opens his mouth. Although this was a good premise for a character, anyone could have played this role. It is a disappointment that Carell's talents were wasted by having him play this part, especially after he proved himself in a hilarious news reporter role as a sarcastic correspondent for Jon Stewart's Daily Show on Comedy Central.
5. Like any good 50's-style gang, "The News Teams" goof off the entire time that they are in school (in this case, at work), but end the kindergarten high jinks and act tough whenever they are on camera or whenever they strut down the streets of San Diego (which they do a couple times in the movie).
6. The exploits of the "The News Team" gang (the #1 ranked news team in San Diego) as they stroll the city are the only parts of the movie that have absolutely no relation to the plot. First, the gang runs into the #2 news team in San Diego, a gang called "Evening News Team," whose gang-leader is played by Vince Vaughn (Dodgeball). Then, later in the movie, the gang gets lost and strolls into the back alleys of San Diego, where they are again confronted by the "Evening News Team" and by the news teams from the other networks in San Diego - gangs which are lead by Luke Wilson (Old School), Tim Robbins (Shawshank Redemption) and Ben Stiller (Dodgeball). Everyone is wielding battle axes, tridents, truncheons, and other such barbaric weapons. As given away in the trailer, a brief battle royal erupts, a sequence that parodies the street warfare in Gangs of New York. This scene uses up most of this movie's best cameos all in one shot.
THE PLOT
As for the actual plot of the movie, here is a general synopsis:
1. Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) is hired as a roving news reporter at the network in which "The News Team" works.
2. All four guys in "The News Team" gang go after her.
3. Mr. Burgundy wins her heart - she's particularly impressed with his ability to play the flute at a Latin jazz club which features a cameo of Fred Armisen (who is in his second season on SNL) as the club's owner. By the end of the night, Mr. Burgundy has fallen deeply in love with her.
4. A great cameo by Jack Black (Shallow Hal), starts in motion a chain of events that result in Ms. Corningstone becoming a co-anchor with Mr. Burgundy. Mr. Burgundy is so upset over this that he and Ms. Corningstone become bitter enemies.
5. Ms. Corningstone easily wins out (on account of Mr. Burgundy being so absurdly dumb). Mr. Burgundy is fired from the network and becomes a bum.
6. An ending sequence at the San Diego Zoo, featuring a fight scene between "The News Team" gang and a pack of grizzly bears, ties everything together - Mr. Burgundy is rehired as co-anchor, he falls back in love with Ms. Corningstone, and everyone is happy.
MISCELLANEOUS
This movie is the first movie by producer Judd Apatow and the first movie by director Adam McKay.
FUN FACT #1: The movie is set in San Diego, California - while Will Ferrell is from Irvine, California and went to college in Los Angeles, California.
FUN FACT #2: After graduating college with a degree in sports information, Will Ferrell started off his career working as a sportscaster on a weekly cable news show. |
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