Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy vs Starsky And Hutch

Someday, we'll look back on the 1990s and realize how dumb the facial hair was. Right now, we're still stuck on the 1970s, with its cheesy mustaches and cowboy boot-shaped sideburns. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy makes spectacular use of facial hair, but it never feels like a joke. This isn't a flashback stunt, where we see how funny the cast of Friends might look if they'd met in the past. Rather, Anchorman, like Boogie Nights, is completely committed to the 1970s. The characters look good, my friend, and they are well aware of that fact.

Will Farrell stars as Ron Burgundy, the most famous and respected local news anchor in San Diego in the 1970s. He's a swinging bachelor who throws amazing pool parties, and his recent Emmy win, he'll tell you himself, has become “history”. His news team is like a lodge, consisting only of his buddies, all of which have aspirations to be more like Ron, and unquestionably regard him as their leader. Movies like this rarely indulge the supporting cast (take Bruce Almighty, for example), but Anchorman focuses on an ensemble. They are Champ Kind (David Koechner) a cowboy sportscaster with a barely concealed crush on Ron; Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), a cologne swimming reporter with a barely concealed crush on Ron; and Brick Tamland (Steven Carrell), who does the weather and has an I.Q. of 45. And, there's a new castmate, in the form of Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate). That's right, a female. The news team is mortified (one member in particular is afraid Veronica's periods will attract bears.) Anchorman follows Ron Burgundy's quest to conquer Veronica, both in the newsroom and in the shag-carpeted grotto that is Ron Burgundy's bedroom.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but for some reason, Anchorman doesn't suck. In fact, I think it's the funniest movie of 2004. I don't give much attention to great comedies on here, but I've seen some blisteringly unfunny movies in the past couple years, so I feel like I should support the one I liked. Go see it. Laugh. I won't waste your time with analyzing the plot or characters. Instead, I'll give you a little preview of the joys that await you in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

1. Something awful—AWFUL—happens to Ron's beloved dog Baxter (named after Ted?). Ron's desperate phone call trying to explain what happened is one of the funniest moments of emotion I've seen in years. Will Farrell plays Ron Burgundy completely. This isn't just a forum for a character idea he had, fleshed out with ad-libs. This is a full character, and Farrell is acting. This is why Will Farrell is being cast opposite people like Robert Duvall.
2. The Gangs of New York-style fight among the local news teams, featuring virtually every cast member from Will Farrell's other movies.
3. Veronica and Ron fighting over who gets to use the station's only VCR.
4. Afternoon Delight.
5. Ron's history of the name “San Diego”.

Starsky and Hutch probably seems like an obvious companion for Anchorman, and for the most part, it's a fitting one as well. First of all, they have several cast members in common (most of them appear in Old School as well, and, I suspect, the upcoming Wedding Crashers.), and they both have an ironic 1970s setting. But while Anchorman uses its time period for comments on broadcasting, masculinity, and equality (all while being as ridiculously funny, in its own way, as the Christopher Guest movies), Starsky and Hutch sets its action in the 1970s because, well, the haircuts are funny and the cars are cool. It works, at first, but after a while, the joke became a little mean-spirited. This isn't a movie version of Starsky and Hutch so much as it is a spoof. Why not spoof the entire genre then? Include Charlie's Angels and Barretta? Why single out Starsky and Hutch for bullying?

Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, as we've seen in every movie ever made, have a nice comic rapport, and are pretty close physical matches for the original Starsky and Hutch (who turn up in an awkwardly-filmed scene, in which none of the actual actors ever appear to be on screen together). They're constantly making up their own rules and crossing the line to nab crooks. Their latest conquest is played by (who else?) Vince Vaughan, a heavy who has invented an odorless cocaine that cannot be tracked by dogs. The case is actually handled fairly seriously at times, which doesn't do the movie any favors. Is this a cop-spoof, or a cop-comedy or what? Starsky and Hutch can't decide. It's much more successful, and funnier, when it's over-the-top and silly, like when the cops unload their guns into a garage door, only to find a birthday pony on the other side. The main reason to see the movie, I suppose, is for the in-jokes, and the more 1970s cop drama you've watched, the better off you'll be. Stiller, Wilson and Vaughan play well together, as we'll continue to see in hundreds of movies, and for the most part, they're in on the joke. How much fun could Starsky and Hutch had been, though, if they hadn't let us in on it too? Unlike Anchorman, Starsky and Hutch is constantly winking at us, silently asking, “Can you believe how goofy this is?” Ron Burgundy knows he's not goofy, so what would be the point in asking?

Anchorman: A-
Starsky and Hutch: B-