Sunday, June 5, 2011

my thoughts on.... 'Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie'

After reading my 'Top 50' list, you all know that I love 'Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'. It ranks right up there as one of my all time favorite comedies. I can watch it anytime, anywhere and love it from beginning to end. Now, 'Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie' has been on my to do list for quite a while but it didn't come with my version of the film. Netflix didn't seem to have it available to rent, so I waited until I was able to get a hold of it finally. Now I can say that I've seen this film. Basically, what it is.... they took extended scenes, deleted scenes and an entire scrapped subplot to put together this sort of sequel. All of it is of the same quality as the film you're all used to. It's just a whole hell of a lot of new footage. For die hard fans, it'll be obvious where the cuts are and the lack of continuity from the original. That doesn't make this crap, it just makes it not quite a whole film. It is fun to finally get to see more of the characters I love doing new stuff, for that it was worth the wait. I'm actually surprised at how well it turned out, based on the fact that this was pretty much made up of scraps. It also gives me hopes that maybe they'll make a sequel someday.... but only if everyone is back on board again. (It is being discussed and considered.)

The plot is this (taken from http://www.imdb.com): "While Ron Burgundy's rivalry with Veronica Corningstone continues, a group of unprofessional thieves better known as 'The Alarm Clock' try to make the truth known, whatever that may be." That's basically it. The whole Veronica thing seems kind of out of sync with the original film, but it's forgivable. Some of the stuff with The Alarm Clock is pretty damn funny and once again, Steve Carrell steals all the scenes he's in and who doesn't love his character of Brick Tamland?

I highly recommend this film to anyone who is a die hard fan of the original. Anyone else, you may want to think twice before you go into this one. Not that it's bad, it's just that it's more of a companion piece than a sequel. That should be made clear. Almost like a REALLY extended deleted scene. I'm hoping that someday in the near future that I can get this on DVD to go along with my copy of the original film.

Where the original is a wonderful example of 5 star comedy film making, this is more of a 4 star outing. It might only be 3 for those who aren't UBER fans like myself. There is a lot of really good stuff here and it just further solidified the 'Top 50' status of the original based on how solid the outtakes were. If you've never seen the first one, then you really are messing up hard. I really recommend that you go and check it out as soon as you can. I bet if you're a fan of the genre, Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd or Adam McKay films then you'll enjoy it. And after to finish that one, track down this pseudo-sequel and get your entire fill of the joy that is 'Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy'. Stay Classy San Diego?

NOTE: Since there is no official trailer to this film, I've included one of the funnier scenes with the guys. I will never look at burritos or crepes in the same way again. Ugh.

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