Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: December 18, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
13
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 17, 2013
Ferrell and his longtime collaborator Adam McKay have a unique gift for creating characters that are human car wrecks yet somehow win our affection. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianJeff BakerDec 18, 2013
Not every gag works, and McKay's directing style could best be described as loose, but the last 30 minutes, when Burgundy goes blind, recovers, and leads a cameo-studded throwdown in Central Park, are worth an hour of Durango commercials. Read full review
80
The DissolveMatt SingerDec 17, 2013
The film pinballs from one setpiece to the next with almost no concern for plot, characters, pacing, or stakes. At times, laughing at all the jokes actually gets a little exhausting. Read full review
80
Total FilmKevin HarleyDec 16, 2013
Bigger and broader than before, Ron’s return occasionally feels like autocue’d sequel-making. But it spikes old news with enough fresh comic zip to keep you hooked through the self-indulgent stretches. Read full review
80
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekDec 16, 2013
The good news is that Anchorman 2 is pretty funny. It's also more rambling and hit-or-miss than its predecessor, which means, thankfully, that it's less likely to become what we euphemistically call iconic: In other words, fewer annoying guys will be inspired to quote it. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 18, 2013
When is a movie fall-down funny even when some scenes fall flat on their fat ones? When it's Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Adam NaymanDec 18, 2013
It’s a stacked lineup, and considering the profound un-funniness of so many Hollywood comedies, the fact that the film bats somewhere around .300 for its two-hour duration makes it feel like a genuine all-star event. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyDec 18, 2013
It's still plenty hilarious in a reheated sort of way. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 18, 2013
No manner of bizarre distraction can keep Anchorman's hapless hero from his mission: "I'm going to do what God put Ron Burgundy on this earth to do," he declares. "Have salon-quality hair and read the news!" Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigDec 17, 2013
The movie cleverly spoofs the 24-hour TV news cycle, as well as sexism and racism in the workplace. Not every scene is equally funny, of course, but most of the comic antics generate laughs. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubDec 17, 2013
Yet it's very funny, a disappointment only to those who expect to see something bold and new. Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallDec 17, 2013
McKay and Ferrell keep the jokes naughty not dirty and flying for shrapnel accuracy; many miss, but when one hits it counts. Read full review
70
NPRIan BuckwalterDec 18, 2013
It's impossible for all of them to work, but the sheer volume of material, delivered by a cast dedicated to the absolute absurdity of the setups — Fantana's new career as a kitten photographer, Kind's side business running a fast-food chain with a specialty in fried bat, Burgundy nursing and training a live shark while blind and living in a lighthouse — is a kind of comedy carpet-bombing. All it takes is a certain percentage of hits for things to detonate. Read full review
70
The New York TimesA.O. ScottDec 17, 2013
It’s a frequently amusing, occasionally hilarious, rarely unpleasant grab bag of mild mockery and inspired lunacy, decked out with cameos from beloved comic performers and random celebrities. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyDec 16, 2013
Comedically, everyone's on the same page here, which means that, even when things flag, more fun isn't far off. Read full review
70
VarietyScott FoundasDec 16, 2013
A modestly less quotable but generously funny new adventure for scotch-and-mahogany-loving 1970s newsman Ron Burgundy. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 16, 2013
Scene after scene rockets past dumb, past camp, past Kabuki, and into the Milky Way of Silly where laws can be made up and discarded as long as what happens gets laughs. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovDec 18, 2013
As with the original Anchorman, the gags fly fast and free; not all of them work, but a romantic subplot between linguistically challenged Brick and GNN secretary Chani (Wiig) is an inspired comedic dorkgasm. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubBen KenigsbergDec 18, 2013
All of McKay’s movies improve on repeat viewings, as they become familiar and meme worthy. If Anchorman 2 seems hit-and-miss now, there’s a significant chance that it will get funnier over the long haul. Read full review
67
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthDec 17, 2013
Patchy as often as its outright hilarious, fantastically outrageous just as frequently as its forgettable and flatlining, the sequel winds up a bit better than a second tier Ferrell outing. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 19, 2013
While Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a disappointment — how could it not be? — it’s not for lack of trying. If anything, the movie tries too hard. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 18, 2013
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues could easily be called Anchorman 2: More of the Same. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayDec 17, 2013
Buried inside this grab bag of hits and misses is a pretty good point about the descent of television news into a miasma of 24/7 speculation, fluff and, most of all, hype. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 17, 2013
Maybe if I liked the first "Anchorman" a little less, I'd like Anchorman 2 a little more. Still, I laughed. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreDec 16, 2013
The buffoonery goes epic in this sillier than silly sequel, a broad, down and dirty comedy overfilled with funny people trying to one-up one another on the set in the classic “best line wins” school of comic improvisation. Read full review
60
TimeRichard CorlissDec 19, 2013
Anchorman 2 is more like SNL in the sharper years (1995–2002), when McKay was a writer and Ferrell one of the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. Expect no more and you should be satisfied. Wine connoisseurs would call this a new Burgundy with an old bouquet. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyDec 17, 2013
With so many sight gags and nearly every living comic in the world making an appearance at some point, the entire operation, like Ron's ego, feels a bit bloated. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 17, 2013
Is it a good movie? It’s OK. But is it funny? It is, and ultimately that’s all it sets out to be. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 16, 2013
The legend loses something in the retelling, but what’s new here is mostly worth the trip. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinDec 16, 2013
Patchy and in need of a rigorous edit, but amid all the weeds there is some ripe comedy (satire, even) for the plucking. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonDec 16, 2013
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is not the disaster some feared it might be, but neither is it the endlessly quotable, deliciously idiotic follow-on so many of us were optimistically anticipating. Read full review
60
The GuardianAndrew PulverDec 16, 2013
This Anchorman sequel knows who its fans are, and does its best to keep them happy. No one will be complaining. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'HehirDec 20, 2013
This is the kind of movie where most people know what they want and are pretty sure what they will get, that being “more of the same, please.” Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 18, 2013
The most inventive aspect of the film, aside from a lovely, daffy romantic duet between hypernerds played by Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig, are the promotional tie-ins with which we’ve been inundated -- Ron hawking Dodge Durango trucks, accepting journalism school awards, etc. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzDec 18, 2013
Lacks the original's momentum. It only sometimes builds to the peaks of lunacy that you want and need from this sort of picture. It goes here, it goes there, it does this, it does that. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsDec 17, 2013
OK, the musical ode to Doby the shark elicits a grin, but the low-percentage script is loaded with buckshot, not harpoons, and Anchorman 2 ends up sinking. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithDec 17, 2013
Anchorman 2 is like watching “Anchorman” being re-enacted by semi-professionals trying to cover up their lapses by being extra-emphatic, super-doofy: 2013 Steve Carell does a lousy impression of 2004 Steve Carell. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierDec 17, 2013
Like the bloated channels it parodies, the movie stretches to find something to say, then settles for stupid. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChris CabinDec 18, 2013
The film's half-hearted plea for responsibility and ethics in the news, after joyfully rolling around in its corruption for the majority of its runtime, smacks of plain pandering. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezDec 19, 2013
The lack of effort, right down to the unimaginative title, is dispiriting. Read full review
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