Sophie's Film Choice #11: ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES

*Looks up from news desk, as if slightly (yet pleasantly) surprised*

Oh hello there! Thought I'd disappeared from the bloggersphere eh? Thought that 'Sophie's Choice' was no more? Well you thought WRONG!

That's right my fellow film enthusiasts! Much like Ron Burgundy, Sophie is back, and bigger than ever. Apologies for profuse use of exclamation marks (or the occasional cheeky smiley face) - I'm currently writing a regular blog for 13-17 year old girls, so the occasional mistake does sometimes (I LOVE HARRY STYLES!) slip in.

It is a shameful truth to acknowledge that I have seen a couple of films lately that I haven't had the time to review - I will give them a short summary now:

'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' - 4 Hours. Enjoyable barrel-fuelled escapades. They all go on a drug trip. Gandalf saves them.

'Thor 2' - I fell asleep. I believe this was due to work-related fatigue, as I was impressed with the hammer-wielding and Hiddleston brooding that I witnessed in my conscious minutes.

SO, to the main event - after nearly 10 years of waiting, with the beautifully haunting tune of 'Afternoon Delight' resounding in our heads, we finally saw the return of Ron Burgundy and his news team to our screens last year. And they did not disappoint.

'Yayy! We're getting paid SO MUCH for this!'

This sequel is extremely self-indulgent, completely illogical, undeniably stupid - and therefore hilarious. Imagine a killer whale, in a glittery biki, smoking a pipe and talking in an Indian accent. Yes - that random.

The old characters we have come to know and love are exemplified wonderfully in the first part of the film. In a re-uniting sequence, we can see that after 10 years: Champ Kind owns a fried 'chicken' restaurant (or 'chicken of the cave' - you figure it out), Brian Fantana takes photos of kittens (or 'pussies'...) and Brick Tamland thinks he's dead. Literally.

Ronald McDonald's grumpy brother. 

In fact, right from the funeral which Brick himself organises - for his own death - and then does a speech - Steve Carell really steals this film (with perhaps only Doby the Shark as his main contender). From the slow-motion, mid-air posing when the camper van rolls down the hill, to the horrendously awkward scenes with his new love-interest Chani (played by Kristen Wiig), Carell gives consistent laughs. I can only assume his lines are written by pointing at random words in the dictionary and stringing them together, but it works!

There really is no organised or coherent way I can analyse this film, as it's really a pastiche of ridiculousness. However, some of my personal highlights include:

1) A squirmingly awful scene when Ron meets his new girlfriend's family (BLACK!!)
2) The moment Ron becomes blind and can no longer distinguish between ketchup and beer (even after tasting them)
3) Walter Burgundy's face during the heart-felt song for Doby the Shark
4) An EPIC news team battle, involving far too many cameos, a werewolf and a Minotaur.

All in all, I loved 'Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues'. Whilst not as well-structured and concise as the first, the sequel makes up for it in pure, unadulterated silliness. A literally laugh-a-minute film, Will Ferrel shows that he's still got it (despite the wrinkles).

Stay classy, St. Albans.

WARNING: Scenes like this become normal after 20 minutes.