The December release of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues starring Will Ferrell is a comedy sequel to 2004’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. In the latest movie, the story of this “legend” continues and was released in theaters on December 18, just in time for a trip to the movies during seasonal time off.

Of course, if you have watched even a little bit of television or watched sports or YouTube at all in the past several months, you are already familiar with Ron Burgundy, played by Will Farrell. Farrell has been promoting the movie showing up in character in hilariously unexpected spots.

He has appeared in character for an interview on ESPN, at a college graduation speech about journalism, and on probably the most familiar appearance of them all, on a Dodge Ram commercial. In each of his promotional appearances, Will Farrell uses his comedic talent to draw plenty of laughs from an unexpected audience of viewers. As one of the producers of the film, Farrell hopes this form of advertising will pay off at the box office.

Since there has been almost a decade between the original movie and its sequel, many who saw the first Anchorman film have forgotten much of the story line. This brilliant marketing campaign may have given this end-of-year movie the boost producers were hoping as it has placed the main character in front of potential movie goers when they least expected to see an ad for a movie. While you may easily tune out, or never tune into see a typical movie trailer ad spot, it’s hard to miss Will Farrell in character as Anchorman Ron Burgundy appearing on your favorite show or even on your local news.

The cast is filled with well-known actors:

  • Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy
  • Christina Applegate as Veronica Corningstone, Ron’s wife
  • Steve Carell as Brick Tamland
  • Paul Rudd as Brian Fontana
  • David Koechner as Champ Kind
  • James Marsden
  • Harrison Ford as Mack Harken
  • Kristin Wiig as Chani
  • Greg Kinnear as Gary
  • Meagan Good as Linda Jackson
  • Dylan Baker
  • Josh Lawson
  • Luke Wilson as Frank Vitchard
  • Plus, there are some additional cameos from some popular stars such as Jim Carrey and Tina Fey.

The story begins with the 70s in the past, but you wouldn’t know time has gone by as Ron still looks like he is stuck in that decade. Ron Burgundy, San Diego’s top-rated newsman played by Will Ferrell, returns to the news room.

After walking out on his wife and struggling with parental responsibility of their son, William, Burgundy gets hired to take on the nation’s first 24-hour news channel. When he is initially offered the job, he refuses to take it unless his former news buddies are part of the package deal, and so sets the scene for the return of a crass crew of newsmen.

The movie is a comedy, but don’t expect the same innocent, fun-loving character of Will Ferrell as he portrayed in the Christmas family-oriented movie, Elf. If you decide on seeing it, you might want to leave younger family members at home. The movie is rated PG-13, but many may argue it is more of a solid R-rating due to morality humor that crosses the lines, crude sexual content, drug use, language and comedic violence.

The movie comes short of an R-rating due to the comedic intent of most of the questionable scenes which include some profanity, partying with alcohol, sex, nudity and some comedic violence. Given the characters’ personalities and the entire theme of the movie, it would have been difficult to portray without at least some off color references.

Even if you find the jokes to be too low brow or politically incorrect for your liking, there is at least one redeeming morality lesson of character throughout the movie. There is a sub story line that displays the importance of a father and son relationship. No spoilers here. You will have to watch the movie to find out.

Paramount Pictures presents Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. The movie runs for 119 minutes and was directed by Adam McKay.

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