"Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy" (2004) was an instant classic. There is something about this movie that is just plain amazing. And hands-down, this is the most quote-worthy movie in history. When it's not being quoted, its being referenced or used in meme-style social media responses. "Anchorman" taught us that milk was a bad choice, that Baxter could speak Spanish (and eat a whole wheel of cheese), Brick would like to invite everyone to the Pants Party, and that "San Diego" means "a whale's vagina". If you don't understand anything I just said, then you need to watch this movie. I'm not even giving you the plot because it sounds stupid, just go watch it.
You may not like it at first. That's quite common. I myself thought "Anchorman" was awful when I first saw it, until the News Team Fight happened. That caught my attention. I gave the movie a second go later, and then found myself constantly referencing it, even though I still wasn't too keen on it. Then one day, I was calling it one of my favorite movies. I still have no clue when that happened, but I sure as hell know why. Nearly every line in this movie is a joke. Sometimes that can be a problem, since you miss jokes from laughing at the previous one, but the lines are delivered in such a way that you never miss the next one. Plenty of time is given to laugh.
Many parts of this movie are improvised as well. Sometimes you can tell, other times you can't, and that makes for a cinematic treasure. One of the lines from the Sex Panther scene was improvised by Paul Rudd to try to get Will Farrell to mess up his lines (something everyone on set for that movie was trying to do at all times). The part where Brian says "They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works every time" was made up on the spot as one of these efforts. It backfired as Farrell continued the scene as if the line was always there and caused Rudd to flub the scene, so they kept it. That has become one of the most well-known scenes from the movie.
Do yourself a favor and go watch this movie right now. And I mean that to everyone. If you've seen it before, go watch it. If you've never seen it, go watch it.
Oh, and luckily Pearl the Landlord (aka Bad Cop) makes an appearance. I've never noticed that after she delivers her lines and walks away, she then rips away from her mother and runs back towards Will Farrell, looking kind of upset. That's adorable.
Ohh, "Animal House" (1978). This is possibly the funniest movie of all time (rivaled by another Belushi classic you may have heard of: "Blues Brothers"). "Animal House" has paved the way for every other college movie out there. Any jokes these other movies have made was probably a joke from "Animal House" first, just changed up slightly or elaborated on. "Van Wilder" is completely built on the foundation this movie laid in the 70's. Even Twisted Sister quoted a large part of a scene at the end of "We're Not Gonna Take It".
Seriously, tell me you haven't seen this somewhere before.
Like I said just a single post ago, this was directed by the same guy (accomplished director John Landis) who wrote and directed "An American Werewolf in Paris". The late, great Harold Ramis has a writing credit on this movie, who had an appearance in "Airheads" and is infamous for writing "Ghostbusters", among other comedy classics. Writing, directing, comedians - this movie has it all! While being a comedy, it still captures a lot of what happens at college - being a period film, more of college in the 1960's, but college life has distinctly adapted the lifestyle in "Animal House".
In my opinion, one of the absolute funniest parts of the movie is the scene after Flounder kills Neidermeyer's horse. The Dean and the Mayor are having a meeting in Dean Vernon's office while a man is measuring the dead horse that is still in the office to see if it will fit through the door that it just walked through the night before. The Dean and the Mayor never make any acknowledgment towards the man or the horse during the entire scene. That scene gets me in stitches every time. Comedy gold!
Be warned - this movie is a National Lampoon movie from the 70's, and it has some . . . insensitive bits that are . . . frowned upon in this current generation (though comments on social media and i nthe news may try to convince you otherwise). If you get offended by racial humor or the objectifying of women in a movie written 40 years ago you may want to steer clear of this one, unless you are able to separate in your mind how this is used comedically in a "historical" sense. Remember, this film is taking place before "I Have a Dream", and during a time where women - though being allowed to vote - were still considered second-class citizens and widely regarded as objects.
Side note: I always thought watching this movie that John Belushi was in his late 30's or early 40's. I never knew that he passed away at 33, and was 28 or 29 while he filmed this movie.
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