Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Oh Ron, there are literally thousands of other men that I should be with instead, but I am 72 percent sure that I love you.

One thing that I’ve noticed over the years is that comedies can be very decade dependent for whether they’re funny or not. Humor can be so situational and embroiled in popular culture that the second a new generation switch happens, what was funny 10 years ago is no longer funny. I’ve watched many a comedy that worked well for people of my generation, but my younger nieces and nephews found it old and “dated”. Also, I’ve rewatched a comedy here or there that just didn’t hold up to repeat viewings years later, as the cultural shift had happened and what was funny at the time just wasn’t funny anymore. However, some comedies pass the test of time, becoming indelible to the comedy landscape. Films like Caddy Shack, Galaxy Quest, My Cousin Vinny all stand up decades later, and despite being one of those comedies I swore wouldn’t hold up over time, 2004’s Anchorman is still one of the funniest comedies (and one of Will Ferrell’s best films) that I’ve ever seen (well, alongside Blades of Glory, which is comedy gold, I’ll fight you on that one).

Ron Burgandy (Will Ferrell) is living the dream. He’s news Anchor for Channel 4 News in the 1970s, where men had hairy chests, women were there to get coffee for him, and the entire city of San Diego tuned in each night at 6 to hear his dulcet tones read out the news. His lavish parties are the thing of legend, where women swooned over him, men wanted to be him (except for the other competing news anchors), and his only flaw just so happens to be that he’s a misogynistic pig who drinks too much scotch and treats women like sex objects. All of his misconceptions and life lessons are put to the test when Channel 4 hires a “diversity” project in the name of Miss Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) to be a co-anchor along with Ron and his cadre of mischievous miscreants.

What? You ate the whole... wheel of cheese? How'd you do that? Hey, I'm not even mad; that's amazing. How 'bout we get you in your p.j.'s and we hit the hay.

This throws the entire news team into a tizzy, shocked and outraged that a WOMAN (*gasp!) is being allowed into their male dominated little utopia. Their shock and anger only fuels the men to heap prank after prank onto Veronica’s head in order to drive her out of “their” little kingdom. Only thing is, Ron has sort of fallen head over heels for the new anchor, and now his entire world view is called into question as the bumbling misogynist has to figure out if he fits in the world that is coming up faster than he can run.

Now Ron can be a bit of a charmer, and despite her better judgment, Veronica ends up falling for the big lug. The problem is that Ron is still a misogynist at heart, and while he has good intentions, his lifetime of male dominated reign has warped his ability to interact with a female without being a complete doofus. Soon enough Ron alienates Veronica and gets fired from his beloved Channel 4 news station as a result of his outbursts. Roaming the streets of San Diego as a “normal peasant”, Ron has to craft a plan that will not only get him his job back, but sweep Veronica off her feet and hopefully back into his bed.

Brick, where did you get a hand grenade?

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy is pure comedy gold, with Adam McKay allowing the complete hodge podge of early 2000s comedic actors to improv and go wild on set. We’ve got Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Vince Vaughn, Fred Willard, John C. Reilley, cameos by Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Judd Apatow and even Seth Rogen, all of whom are just having a ball on screen. From what I’ve read over the years, McKay literally let Ferell and his buddies just have free improv reign, and filmed hours of footage that gave him an absolute gem of a movie at the end. Sometimes movies where the director lets the actors go off script fail badly, but others (like this one) actually work. Simply put, Anchorman is a hilarious lampoon of the changing of the guard in terms of a male dominated work force as told through the lens of Will Ferrell and his absurdist comedic takes. And yes, I still laugh myself hoarse 20 years later.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for sexual humor, language and comic violence / Unrated for Extended Cut




4K Video: Video:

The Blu-ray encode (which is included in the set to make it a combo pack) was always a dated transfer, and one that has stuck around since the inception of the Blu-ray format. It was good, never great, and had a decided soft and dulled look to it that made it seem kind of flat at times. But luckily for us, Paramount has gone back and pulled a new 4K master with Dolby Vision enhancements for this new 4K UHD disc. While the Blu-ray was certainly very watchable even to this day, this new 2160p image is light years better. The new UHD is striking and vibrant, with a rich display of colors that handily outclasses the muted and dull look of the Blu-ray. The bright blue/purple and maroon shades on Ron’s suits really do pop, and that weird sort of soft hazy look is completely gone. The film grain is still pretty heavy, but very natural looking with a clean color grading that really accentuates the daylight shots (night time shots CAN have a bit of a grain spike). The visual details are simply superb, with every pore of each character’s faces showcasing details that I’ve never seen before. The scene where Ron and Veronica wake up next to each other is SHOCKINGLY revealing with facial details and textures. I never realize just how freckled Christina was, and Will’s laugh lines are even more readily apparent on screen. Needless to say, this 4K UHD disc absolutely blows the old Blu-ray out of the water, AND we don’t get massive digital tampering or compression issues like other recent Paramount 4K UHD disc releases. Bravo Paramount, bravo.








Audio:

One thing that I wish could have been redone for this release is the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. This is the same 5.1 mix as the old single disc release as well as the Rich Mahogany Edition from 2010/2013. This means that while it’s a decent track, it’s not exactly stellar audio. Most of the weight goes into the center and main channels, with only mild ambiance activating the rears and subs. Bass is a bit anemic, with the occasional bit of traffic, or the thud of a door, really adding some low end weight. Otherwise most of audio is coming from the 3 front speakers. Now, while there are some limitations, the vocals and dialog are clean and clearly locked up front, and the panning effects where Baxter gets punted, or the roaring of the crowd during the confrontation in the bear pit add some nice directional cues. It’s a serviceable track, and one that has been a staple of the film for the last 20 years (I honestly don’t believe we’ve had a remix of the audio since the DVD days).







Extras:

DISC ONE - 4K UHD

• THEATRICAL VERSION of the film
• DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION

DISC TWO - BLU-RAY

• THEATRICAL AND EXTENDED VERSIONS of the film branched
• Commentary by Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Lou Rawls, Andy Richter, Kyle Gass, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and Christina Applegate
• Deleted & Extended Scenes
• Bloopers
• "Afternoon Delight" Music Video
• ESPN SportsCenter Audition – Ron Burgundy

DISC THREE - BLU-RAY

• WAKE UP RON BURGUNDY: THE LOST MOVIE
• Intro-Commentary with Will Ferrell and Aaron Zimmerman
• PSA
• Award Speech
• Raw Footage "Good Takes"
• "Afternoon Delight" Recording Session
• Interviews
• Specials
• Cast Auditions
• Table Read 6/2/03
• Rehearsals
• Playback Video
• Commercial Break
• Trailers

Final Score: ​

Paramount has had some consistency issues with their 4K UHD releases, but they certainly have outdid themselves on the last couple of releases. The new 2160p encode is top notch, with all of the extras from the Rich Mahogany Edition (the 4K UHD disc itself is barebones, but all of the extras are included on the Blu-ray 2 disc set, which is simply the Rich Mahogany Edition put in the case with the 4K disc) and a killer new artwork set. My only complaint is that while they advertise that this is both the theatrical and the extended cut, the extended cut is exclusively on the Blu-ray set, while the 4K UHD disc is only the theatrical. Not a big deal as the extended cut isn’t THAT much different, but it’s a mild disappointment. Either way, this is a killer upgrade visually, and is worth every penny for fans of the movie. Great Watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell
Directed by: Adam McKay
Written by: Adam McKay, Will Ferrell
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, german, Spanish, Italian, Japanese DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG-13 (Unrated for Extended Cut)
Runtime: 94 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 2nd, 2024

Recommendation: Great Buy