Film After 11 Podcast | Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

In a rare turn, I let my son Joseph pick the movie for this week’s episode of the Film After 11 podcast. He’d already watched a few minutes of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy at a friend’s house and wanted to see the rest. Who was I to argue with that choice?

I’m still partial to Elf as Will Ferrell’s best comedy, but Anchorman is pretty high in the ranks. It’s a (deliberately) dumb movie and not all the jokes land, but it’s endlessly quotable and the news team battle royale will always be hilarious. I’d forgotten that Tim Robbins plays the snooty public broadcasting anchor with a smoking jacket and pipe. In fact, I’d forgotten a lot of the cameos. Letting it go for several years between watches helps the humor to feel fresh again.

Oh, and we got this episode down to a reasonable length again. No 15-minute digressions about muffins this week, though I think you will still want to hang around for the after-credits scene.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) - Christina Applegate
Title:Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Year of Release: 2004
Director: Adam McKay
Watched On: Blu-ray
Also Available On:4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Paramount+
Pluto TV
Various VOD rental and purchase platforms

The Blu-ray

Anchorman first arrived on Blu-ray in 2010. The so-called “Rich Mahogany” Edition packaged the regular Blu-ray keepcase inside an extra-thick slipcover that also held a copy of what was supposed to be Ron Burgundy’s journal and a pack of Channel 4 News Team trading cards. If gimmicky, the journal has some legitimately funny notes scrawled on the pages.

“Alternate sign-off lines: Stay classy San Diego. And for those of you who don’t, well then, burn in hell.”

Subsequent reissues dropped the slipcover and physical swag.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) Rich Mahogany Edition Blu-ray Blu-ray

A 4K Ultra HD upgrade was then released in 2024. I don’t own that one. I suppose I could have rented the 4K version on streaming, but decided to just go with the Blu-ray I already had in hand. I immediately had mixed feelings about that.

The Blu-ray offers a choice of the original 94-minute theatrical cut of a slightly longer Unrated edition, accessible though the “Play” option in the menu. For this podcast, we watched the PG-13 theatrical cut.

The Blu-ray is a frustrating mixed bag. The full-screen 16:9 transfer (marginally opened up from the theatrical 1.85:1) has rich and lovely colors and contrast. At first glance, most scenes appear to be very sharp, even eye-popping. Unfortunately, right from the opening Dreamworks logo, it’s quite apparent that edge enhancement has been applied. While electronic edge halos aren’t necessarily visible in every scene, when they do show up, they’re very nasty and distracting. Even in those scenes without halos, the artificial sharpening exaggerates film grain to a gritty and ugly texture.

I suppose this might not look so bad for those watching on a smaller TVs, but for those of us with large home theater screens, it’s very disappointing. If I cared more about Anchorman, I’d likely upgrade to the 4K edition, which I expect must look better. The reality, however, is that I doubt I’ll watch this movie again for several years, so I’m not inclined to pay for another copy right now.

The most notable aspect of the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack is that the periodic voiceover narration by real newscaster Bill Kurtis is much louder than any of the regular dialogue. After starting the movie, my instinctive reaction was to turn down my master volume, but doing so, it took me a little bit to find a good compromise. In other respects, this is a typical comedy mix, mostly front-focused with little to no noticeable surround action. Music sounds fine, but has no real dynamic range.

Bonus features are spread across two discs. The first starts with an audio commentary by director Adam McKay, star Will Ferrell, cast members Paul Rudd, Christina Applegate and David Koechner, plus random guests Andy Richter, singer Lou Rawls, and singer/comedian Kyle Gass. That’s followed by some bloopers, almost an hour of deleted and extended scenes, a parody music video for “Afternoon Delight,” and an unused bit where Ron Burgundy auditions for ESPN.

The major item on Disc 2 is Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, a quasi-sequel comprised of outtakes and abandoned storylines shot for the original movie. For that, Will Ferrell and producer Aaron Zimmerman deliver what’s labeled an “intro-commentary” over just the first twelve minutes. The rest of the disc is filled with bric-a-brac such as even more deleted scenes and outtakes, a gag where Ron Burgundy interviews real (though present day for 2004) celebrities, audition reels, a Comedy Central special, a couple trailers, and a lot more nonsense I didn’t feel like spending too many hours going through.

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