"Why don't you go back to your home on Whore Island?" - Ron Burgundy

There's just something about Anchorman that makes it an absurdist cult classic.

Maybe it's the smell of rich mahogany that it gives off.

Maybe it's the yazz flute soundtrack.

Maybe it's the twisted science, where a woman's brains are 1/3 the size of the male's, and where bears can smell menstruation.

Maybe it's the loving of lamps. The loving of carpets. The loving of desks.

Maybe it's the intense emotional resonance of the glass case of emotion.

Maybe it's the fact that 60% of the time, the jokes work every time.

But one thing's for sure: it's kind of a big deal.

I've long ago given up on trying to pinpoint what tickles my funnybone, but there has always been one consistent thing that gets me laughing and that is dead pan absurdism.

Anchorman has that in spades. It plays everything with a straight face and it's just absolutely ridiculous. The dialogue, the physical comedy, the plot and the spontaneous spells of absurdity make this film a cocktail that clicks really well with me.

There's no point in analyzing this film. It's bonkers in all the right ways and reminded me a lot of Police Squad and Airplane. I usually like Ferrell, so that certainly helps, but Carell's schticky idiocy got the most laughs out of me. It's a trick he does, but boy does he do it well. So if that's your thing, definitely watch it (if you're one of the three people that hasn't yet).

Stay classy, Letterboxd. Stay classy.

I love... carpet. I love... desk. 

Brick, are you just looking at things in the office and saying that you love them? 

I love lamp. 

Do you really love the lamp, or are you just saying it because you saw it? 

I love lamp. I love lamp.

84

"And you ate the whole wheel of cheese? I'm not even mad. That's amazing."

They've done studies, you know?

Sixty percent of the time, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy works every time.

the best scene in the movie is when Baxter and the bear have a conversation and you can’t even argue that

I sure hope we win bomp

still holds up tbh

Gut-burstingly funny and largely improvised, this has Will Ferrell as a chauvinistic newsreader with good support from Steve Carrell and Paul Ruud amongst others. And some genius cameos from Stiller, Vaughan, Luke Wilson and Jack Black. Probably the best thing to come out of the Frat Pack.

“Bark twice if you’re in Milwaukee.”

the human torch was denied a bank loan

In the last scene the narrator tells us that Brick Tamland, played by Steve Carell, goes on to be a top political adviser to the Bush administration, and 15 years later Steve Carell plays Donald Rumsfeld in Vice. Coincidence? Foreshadowing? Am I thinking about this too hard?

Pretty hit and miss – some great moments, but a lot of lazy characterisation and bumbling jokes and dialogue.