Nine years is a long time for a movie to become a huge pop-culture icon. With people spewing quotes from the first Anchorman left and right, one would think that the nine years that it took to get the sequel out would have resulted in better gestated jokes, but while the movie is hilarious at times, some of the jokes do not quite stand up to the ones that have become such colloquialisms.

The movie picks up as Ron Burgundy – now married to Veronica Corningstone who he shares a child with – is working in New York with his wife, but after his wife is given a primetime slot, Ron gets fired. He and his wife separate and Ron moves back to San Diego, where he works as an announcer at Sea World. His downturn improves when he gets offered a job at a new 24 hour news station. So he gathers up the old Channel 4 News Team and they set off for New York.

Thus begins our new adventure with the Channel 4 News Team, but in the end it becomes more of a spotlight for Will Ferrell, who don’t get me wrong is hilarious, but the vast majority focuses on him and him alone. This isn’t a bad thing at times, but when there is such a strong and funny supporting cast, it feels a bit wasted not to see them. We get more Brick out of anybody else and Steve Carell does an excellent job again playing the dimwit, but now he has a love interest in Kristen Wiig, who is basically Brick in a girl’s body.

The jokes come both new and old. There are numerous references to jokes from the first movie, including sex panther and the battle scene. Yet, there are “new” jokes that seem recycled with small tweaks in place.  Again, we get another wasted feeling considering the fact that they have enough footage for multiple cuts of the film. The one-liners we have come to love from the first one don’t seem there in the sequel. Nothing quite stood out like “60% of the time, it works every time.” Then again, we had nine years to watch and memorize those quotes, so maybe time will tell what sticks around. But the movie is very funny at times, and there was a variety of gut-busting laughs to scenes of occasional chuckles. The battle scene will go down as probably the most memorable part of the movie, but I won’t ruin why. The movie does reach a point where it tends to drag and it could have been about 10-15 minutes shorter.

The situations the characters get into are great, but there are a couple of items that feel utterly unnecessary and I am confused why they were even put in the movie.

I really found this movie funny. When the Channel 4 News Team assembles you are always in for a hilarious time. Yet, when most of the team is out for a good portion of the movie, it leaves something to be desired, it feels empty without the great chemistry that was built in the first movie. So, if you want to laugh your head off go see this movie, just don’t expect it to be as great as the original.

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