The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 17 - ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The Big Picture" Episode - The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 17 - ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’

Episode Details:

• Title: The 25 Best Movies of the Century: No. 17 - ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’
• Host/Authors: Sean Fennessy and Amanda Dobbin
• Release Date: June 25, 2025
• Podcast: The Big Picture by The Ringer

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Introduction to Anchorman's Significance

Sean Fennessy and Amanda Dobbin delve into why Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy holds a significant place in their list of the best movies of the century. They highlight the film's enduring popularity and its pivotal role in shaping modern comedy.

Notable Quote:

Sean Fennessy [02:06]: "Like I could say it word for word. Very important, important film, important text for our generation."

---

The Birth of an Era: Apatow-McKay Collaboration

The hosts discuss the collaboration between Judd Apatow and Adam McKay, emphasizing how Anchorman marked the beginning of a new comedy era. They credit the film for launching a wave of successful comedies from these influential creators.

Notable Quote:

Sean Fennessy [02:25]: "This is the beginning of the Apatow McKay era of comedy, which also began to sort of suck up, hoover up and grow a great many stars..."

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Will Ferrell's Iconic Performance

A significant portion of the discussion centers around Will Ferrell's portrayal of Ron Burgundy. Sean and Amanda praise Ferrell's ability to balance absurdity with genuine emotion, making Ron a memorable and relatable character despite his over-the-top antics.

Notable Quotes:

Amanda Dobbin [07:39]: "I had fun with this movie. It's among the funniest and most heartfelt comedies I've seen."

Sean Fennessy [07:41]: "This character is the ultimate representation of false masculinity, yet he's endearingly sweet."

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Themes of Gender and Power Dynamics

The hosts explore the film's underlying themes, particularly its critique of sexism and chauvinism in the 1970s workplace. They commend how the movie uses humor to address serious societal issues without losing its comedic essence.

Notable Quotes:

Amanda Dobbin [16:12]: "The joke is always on them, and that's really hard to do."

Sean Fennessy [16:53]: "It's an effective idea movie in that way."

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Ensemble Cast and Improvisation

Sean and Amanda highlight the strength of the ensemble cast, including Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, and others. They discuss how the film's improvisational style contributed to its authenticity and humor, setting it apart from scripted comedies.

Notable Quotes:

Sean Fennessy [06:31]: "It's a lean machine of comedy."

Amanda Dobbin [10:49]: "There’s physicality and what he does with his voice that makes it so funny."

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Cultural Impact and Legacy

The conversation shifts to the film's cultural impact, noting how lines and scenes from Anchorman have permeated popular culture. The hosts reflect on the movie's status as a DVD classic and its continued relevance in comedy discussions.

Notable Quotes:

Sean Fennessy [51:27]: "Anchorman is still my favorite comedy of the century. It's seared into all of our brains because it's the funniest thing alive."

Amanda Dobbin [43:38]: "The comedy is essential to making it memorable and loved by so many."

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Comparisons with Other Comedies

Sean and Amanda compare Anchorman to other notable comedies like Superbad, Step Brothers, and classics from Mel Brooks. They discuss why Anchorman stands out despite the plethora of successful comedies from the same era.

Notable Quotes:

Amanda Dobbin [04:08]: "I think we made the right decision because of everything that this movie brings together."

Sean Fennessy [13:44]: "It feels like you're watching a live exhibit of some kind, but Anchorman has a richer thematic core."

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Adam McKay's Directorial Influence

The duo examines Adam McKay's directorial debut with Anchorman and his subsequent career trajectory. They ponder the future of McKay's filmmaking and his evolving role in both comedy and political commentary.

Notable Quotes:

Sean Fennessy [31:17]: "Adam McKay's ability to infuse thematic depth without sacrificing humor is what makes Anchorman stand out."

Amanda Dobbin [32:22]: "There's a tension between wanting to entertain and wanting to convey deeper messages."

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Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In wrapping up, Sean and Amanda reiterate the film's importance in their list and its lasting appeal. They express hope for future collaborations between key figures like McKay and Ferrell, emphasizing the unique chemistry that made Anchorman a standout comedy.

Notable Quotes:

Sean Fennessy [38:41]: "I really hope that they will one day get back together and make something just as special."

Amanda Dobbin [43:20]: "It's seared into all of our brains because it's the funniest thing alive."

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Closing Remarks

Sean and Amanda conclude the episode by reflecting on the subjective nature of movie rankings and the challenge of encapsulating a film's essence within a list. They acknowledge Anchorman's unique place in their personal and cultural landscapes.

Notable Quote:

Sean Fennessy [43:20]: "It’s not an acid burn movie. It’s just fun, with a tinge of sweetness."

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Overall Summary: In this episode, Sean Fennessy and Amanda Dobbin provide an in-depth analysis of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, celebrating its comedic brilliance, thematic depth, and cultural significance. They commend the film for its stellar performances, especially Will Ferrell's iconic role, and its successful critique of 1970s workplace sexism through humor. The collaboration between Judd Apatow and Adam McKay is highlighted as a cornerstone of modern comedy, setting the stage for a new wave of humorous storytelling. Despite the plethora of comedies available, Anchorman remains a beloved classic for its unique blend of improvisation, ensemble chemistry, and lasting cultural impact.

Transcript

[Matt Bellamy]

If you're a fan of the inner workings of Hollywood, then check out my podcast, the Town on the Ringer Podcast Network. My name is Matt Bellamy. I'm founding partner at Puck and the writer of the what I'm Hearing newsletter. And with my show the Town, I bring you the inside conversation about money and power in Hollywood. Every week we've got three short episodes featuring real Hollywood insiders to tell you what people in town are actually talking about. We'll cover everything from why your favorite show was canceled overnight, which streamer is on the brink of collapse, and which executive is on the hot seat. Disney, Netflix, who's up, down, and who will never e lunch in this town again? Follow the Town on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sean Fennessy]

This episode is brought to you by the Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit Card. This is an ad for the Active Cash credit card from Wells Fargo. That's a mouthful, but that's because it packs a lot in. Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with it, big or small. So whether it's buying tickets to the game with your mom or grabbing a coffee with your dog, earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases made with it. Say it with me. The Active Cash credit card from Wells Fargo. Learn more@wells fargo.com ActiveCash Terms apply. This episode is supported by FX's the Bear. The Emmy award winning series returns following Carmi, Sidney and Richie as they push forward, determined not only to survive, but also to take the Bear to the next level. This season, the pursuit of excellence isn't just about getting better. It's about deciding what's worth holding onto. FX is the Bear. All episodes streaming June 25th on Hulu. I'm Sean Fennessy.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I'm Amanda Dobbin.

[Sean Fennessy]

And this is 25 for 25, a big picture special conversation show about anchorman the legend of Ron Burgundy. And I don't know how to put this, but I'm kind of a big people know me. I'm very important. I have many leather bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany. Amanda, how do you feel about those facts?

[Amanda Dobbin]

I didn't realize until I rewatched that I had that full speech memorized. Like I could say it word for word. Very important, important film, important text for our generation.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes, let's explore why that is the case because I suspect we will be repeating a lot of lines of dialogue from this movie as we talk about it.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I love lamb.

[Sean Fennessy]

We do love lamp here. This movie was released on July 9, 2004. Special time in my life was living in New York City. It is co written and directed by Adam McKay. It's his directorial debut after an incredible run at Saturday Night Live where he formed an extraordinary partnership and bond with the other co writer and star of this movie, Will Ferrell. It also stars Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, Chris Parnell, Fred Willard. Cameos galore. Yeah, this is the beginning. The beginning, yes, of the Apatow McKay era of comedy, which also began to sort of suck up, hoover up and grow a great many stars, basically for a 15 year period, I would say roughly through 2018. 2019.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right. And then the pandemic.

[Sean Fennessy]

Pandemic kind of killed it. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And then the slap put an end to that.

[Sean Fennessy]

Was it the slap that ended comedy?

[Amanda Dobbin]

Well, I just kind of. Yeah, the slap killed comedy. Yeah, I guess so.

[Sean Fennessy]

We've already made great progress here on this episode of 25 for 25. So let's talk about it. This was a tricky one to choose because there are a number of representative mega comedies from this era. There's the Hangover, there's other feral McKay projects like Talladega Nights or Stepbrothers. There's this is the End, there's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, there's. We could go on and on, really.

[Amanda Dobbin]

The entire Aptau universe.

[Sean Fennessy]

40 year old virgin, Knocked Up Girls.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Trip and I think the most egregious. And what was the alternative on the list for me? Superbad.

[Sean Fennessy]

Right. So let's go there. Superbad was, I think, the leader in the clubhouse at the start. We made a couple of pivots over time.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I'm fine. I think we made the right decision because of everything that this movie brings together. And it is the starting point both for APTOW universe, Adam McKay universe. It brings in the tail end of like the SNL stuff. Mean Girls is another movie. Spoiler. That's not on our list, but is a.

[Sean Fennessy]

Was a contender.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah. And is a snl, you know, figure transitioning in a different way to the big screen. So you have everything in. In this one movie. But yeah, Superbad's not on our list. So I feel sad about that.

[Sean Fennessy]

I feel sad about it too. I love that movie very much. Superbad, obviously, I don't believe would be possible without this movie and without Judd Apatow. You know, this is not the first thing Judd Apatow did by any stretch of the imagination, but I think what it showed is his great strength colliding with another great filmmaker strength and then making something very special and unique. Apatow had Been making television and movies in the 90s, you know. But this style of filmmaking that he pursues, which is very improv based, which is very manic and absurdist hitting with McKay, who had a ton of experience writing sketch and a ton of experience performing in sketch on stage. Those two energies fit together beautifully. The other thing is that Apatow is a concept guy and McKay is an idea guy. You know what I mean when I say that? So, you know, Apatow is really good at saying, like, what if this was the situation? And McKay is really good at dumping thematic stuff into those.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yes, premise versus theme.

[Sean Fennessy]

Exactly right.

[Amanda Dobbin]

So this is both a funny setup and, like, in a world you want to be in. And crucially, like a setup that can sustain the whole movie, where a lot of SNL to movie pivots are just an SNL sketch that we just do for sometimes two and a half hours, which is inexplicable. But so the premise works, and then McKay is. There is like, no, this is about, you know, sexism and chauvinism in the 70s, and can craft the comedy correctly and make it be about something while also being funny and also, crucially, edit it. So this is the other thing. I had allotted, like, three hours to rewatch this because in my mind, it was one of the late Apatow production, like bloated forever and ever. And the improv just goes on. This movie's 90 minutes. God bless you.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a lean machine of comedy.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah, exactly.

[Sean Fennessy]

Now, that being said, we know that they made a lot more movie.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Totally.

[Sean Fennessy]

There are a lot of cutscenes and bloopers. There's an extended edition that I think is five minutes longer, the unrated edition. And then there is also a movie that is now available called Wake Up Ron Burgundy, which is an entire other movie that they cut together that I would say has less narrative strand.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

But nevertheless, like, it's just rippling with jokes. Has got a ton of material. And this is what these guys do. They write a lot and then they improv a lot, and then they collide it all together. This film is simultaneously feels like. I don't want to say the cheapest, but the sort of like the most Fly by Night, the least, like, hard studio movie out of this generation. You know, it's got a silliness to it, but also has kind of a really strong core at the center of it because it has real relationships between real people that is kind of keeping you invested in the story while the joke machine flies at you. So this is my favorite comedy of the century. It has. I think it's representative of something that is great, but also to sit inside of it and watch it. It's just fun.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah. Do you want to speak on Will Ferrell and what he means to you?

[Sean Fennessy]

Sure. This is not the first movie that he co wrote. He co wrote a movie in 1988 called A Night at the Roxbury, which was based.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I can't do, like, which way. It's hard.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, that's it. Based on a sketch about guys in a club.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

He, Chris Kattan and the eventual. Whoever the guest was that week. Jim Carrey famously participated in a funny Night at the Roxbury sketch where he kind of out Roxburied Will Ferrell and Chris Catan. That's an interesting example of what you just cited, which is that Will Ferrell, when he hit Saturday Night live in the 90s, was a supernova. He was an instantaneous megastar. He felt like, to me, he was the heir apparent to Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy where. And you could say John Belushi before him.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And to me, that's the era when I came in. So Will Ferrell is like my SNL star forever.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. And that's a great stretch of snl. Obviously, we remember it fondly because we were adolescent, but, you know, the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler stretch. But then there's also Jimmy Fallon and then there's folks like Sherry o' Terry, Horatio Sands. Very, very good.

[Amanda Dobbin]

The Spartans.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. And the cheerleaders, which is one of the things that vaulted Will Ferrell to mega fame, among many other characters that he created, many of whom were Created with Adam McKay. So for me, he was an icon. He is my favorite SNL cast member aside from Phil Hartman. Like, he is just. He was an immediate rock star, but that didn't mean that he was an immediate movie star.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And the jump has proved. Has foiled many people.

[Sean Fennessy]

It has. And I think he did some interesting things. He had a very memorable cameo in a movie that I think is a nice setup for this movie, which is Austin Powers international man of mystery, where he plays. I think his name is Mustafa. He culturally appropriated and was wearing. What are those hats called? The red hat with the. You know what I'm talking about.

[Amanda Dobbin]

That's not his name in Zoolander. What's his name in Zoolander?

[Sean Fennessy]

Isn't that Mugatu?

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yes, you're right. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. So, I mean, we're like edging on, you know, again, 2000s, very different.

[Sean Fennessy]

A lot of appropriation going on. It's possible that that character in Austin Powers is meant to be white, but he's informed by a certain kind of James Bond villain. Um, nevertheless, he's really, really funny in that movie. And he gets a very small role where he's like, I'm badly hurt. When he's at the bottom of the whatever. Where whatever trapdoor he's fallen down. But Night at the Roxbury was like a reach. It didn't work. It was. It was what you described. It was a stretched out sketch. And he needed a vehicle that was more appropriate for his. How to describe his essence? I think he is the ultimate full of it man, baby. You know, he is the overconfident, idiotic representation of false masculinity.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right. Or his performance. Let's not as a man.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, not as a man. I want to talk a little bit about him and McKay's dynamic, especially since they no longer work together.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I know, which is sad.

[Sean Fennessy]

And what they gave to each other and kind of what they mean to each other. But I find him to be funny in a primal way. I intend to intellectualize these things and verbalize these things as much as I can. But he has something that just makes me happy.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yes. I mean, it is presence. There's physicality. There's what he does with his voice. And the Steve Carell performance in this is also early Steve Carell and very funny and is playing with volume, which I associate with Steve Carell now. But I realized watching this again, I was like, okay, so that is first and foremost a Will Ferrell thing. And, like, weird sounds and it's like pre language in some ways. His level of humor, he's the CRO Magnon comedy. Yes. But it speaks to us on that level.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm in a glass cage of emotion, obviously. Him shouting just makes people laugh, you know, get off the shed. Like all the SNL sketches are born of him seeming calm and then quickly losing his shit. Ron Burgundy, especially presentational character that he is, he's a 1970s newscaster. I'll describe the setup of the movie for anybody who's not seen Anchorman, which is. I don't know who that is. Is anybody alive who hasn't seen Anchorman? Anybody at least under the age of 20 maybe hasn't seen it.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Hotshot television anchorman Ron Burgundy welcomes upstart reporter Veronica Corning Stone into the male dominated world of 1970s broadcast news. That is, until the talented female journalist begins to outshine Burgundy on air. Soon he grows jealous, begins A bitter feud with Veronica, and eventually makes a vulgar slip on live TV that ruins his career. However, when an outrageous story breaks at the San Diego Zoo, Ron may get a chance to redeem himself. So we can talk about the reasons why we added this movie to the list. One is Obviously the Apatow McKay collision, which kicks off an era of comedy. Right. The other is obviously Will Ferrell, movie star.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

He. He goes on to make some of it. Is he the signature comedy star of the 21st century? I think is an interesting question to explore.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right. I mean, Vince Vaughn being in this is another one because. So you get Old School and Wedding Crashers very soon after that. No one from Hangover is in this. So. And those, I feel, are sort of like the tentpole.

[Sean Fennessy]

Those are the big box office sensations.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Ten years. Right. But to us, probably. What, because he. Will Ferrell's also an old school. What else do we have? I mean, Stepbrothers.

[Sean Fennessy]

Stepbrothers is the. Is the only other one besides Superbad that I seriously considered.

[Amanda Dobbin]

No, I mean, I also, when we were doing our, like, you know, Devil's Advocate, I was like, are we sure it shouldn't be Stepbrothers instead of Anchorman? And I think that you have to be a little boring when you're making those lists. Like, Anchorman brings together all the themes and everything we're talking about. And Stepbrothers is just like. It is like performance art. It is like avant garde almost. It is, but is really, really, really funny.

[Sean Fennessy]

I love it. We did a rewatch about it many, many years ago. I don't want to say there's less to talk about with Stepbrothers, and that being the reason why we didn't choose it. But it does feel like you are watching a live exhibit of some kind. You know, like them kind of like going to the absolute ends of their quest for the lost masculinity of the American man in the 21st century. As opposed to a movie like this, which actually is maybe just like a little bit thematically richer. Plus, this movie also has Christina Applegate, which is the kind of performance that we definitely do not have. In Step Brothers, there's not a lot of female depth explored. There were a couple of other movies that I considered. 21 Jump street, which I think is very, very well liked.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Really, really funny by me as well.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. And we have. No, like, Jonah Hill is not represented here. Neither Superbad nor 21 Jump Street. Once upon a time, he was a huge comedy star.

[Amanda Dobbin]

It's okay. No Spoilers. But Jonah will be back.

[Sean Fennessy]

He will be back. Tropic Thunder.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah. This one.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not a big one for you.

[Amanda Dobbin]

No. I know its importance, but as a.

[Sean Fennessy]

Fan of movie documentaries, Tom Cruise, inspired.

[Amanda Dobbin]

By Hearts of Darkness wasn't there at that time. It's good, but it's not on the level of really any of. And it's not like culturally significant in the way that Anchorman, Superbad, Knocked Up, Hangover, like those were really at the center of pop culture for a while.

[Sean Fennessy]

They. They felt to me. Forgive this comparison because it's going to annoy you, but they felt to me what it was like to go to Marvel movies in like the late 2010s.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah, no, I get it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Where it was like, Friday night is a party. Everyone is. Everyone knows when the movie's coming out and they're excited and it is loud in the theater with laughter.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And they also, like, we had like so many like, discussions and think pieces about, you know, like, is knocked up, sexist and like all these sorts of things. Like they. We were. The fan culture was different, but the fan culture was applied to these movies. It was and now is to Marvel.

[Sean Fennessy]

These were very bro y and very white movies, there's no doubt about it. And they received a lot of criticism in the aftermath of their success. The same way that basically, like every generation of comedy bro gets their criticism. This one's interesting to me though, because it's an open acknowledgment of the quote, unquote problem with these movies, with culture, with American life.

[Amanda Dobbin]

It's one of the best things about it. It's like a very nifty comedic, not even trick. I think it takes a lot of work. They are the men, the sexist buffoons. They are the topic of the joke, but they are also the butt of the joke. And so quickly and in like, in any other hands, you would be asked to laugh at their sexist jokes, you know, and that would be the thing that you're. You're. That is supposed to be quote, unquote funny. And somehow in this movie they are like, they are being gross. And it is a send up of 70s like and just general chauvinist culture. But like the joke is always on them and that's really hard to do.

[Sean Fennessy]

I agree. I think it would not work without Ferrell at the center of it, you know, without somebody who basically is comfortable being the butt of the joke, but who has his physique and willing to have his shirt off all the time. You know what I mean? Who is willing to have an erection in a sequence and be the, you know, object of embarrassment.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

I mean, I agree with you that it's, like, a very effective idea movie in that way. I think it's also, like, ensembles are hard to do in comedy. And a lot of movies try to ape this. And this is a collection of people who, like, even if they didn't work together a lot after this, all, were kind of destined to be in a movie together in some ways. Like Paul Rudd had been in comedies before this, but not quite like this.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Not like Sex Panther.

[Sean Fennessy]

Not in this register specifically.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Sex Panther is the part of the movie when Zach, who was eager to watch this one with me, I'm sure, was just, like, speechless, convulsed. You know, just like, literally, like, couldn't.

[Sean Fennessy]

Breathe 60% of the time. It works every time. I think the other thing, too, is that it's in a really great tradition of movies like Airplane, like Mel Brooks, movies like the Marx Brothers, like Jerry Lewis, where it's just like, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke. You don't get to go more than 90 seconds, even if something incredibly dramatic has just happened without getting hit with a joke, which I actually don't know how that has aged, for lack of a better word. I don't know if that brand of comedy, obviously, we like our consumption patterns, the way we use our phones and the way we, like, look at TikTok, for example, works in the same way, but not in sustained spaces. Like, we've been lamenting the loss of the studio comedy for 10 years now.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

And the, like, people laughing over a joke in a movie theater thing, you must remember this as, like, an issue, especially for a movie like this. That is so loaded.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yes, but I mean, it just is kind of, like, rolling. And in the movie theater, it's so loud that, you know, it just keeps going and it builds. Also, what's interesting to me about it is you mentioned that there are actual relationships between people and ideas in this, but the comedy never stops to have a moment of, what is Veronica gonna. What's she gonna do? And how does. It must be really hard to. That's all in the movie. But she's also making fun of herself. Or the movie is.

[Sean Fennessy]

She's playing the comedy of it.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah, exactly. And the movie is playing the comedy of it. And it does somehow manage to. You know, it's like. It's funny that they're so hot for each other, and that is, like, part of the joke. So you don't have to go into Some, like, actual emotional development that's believable. I don't really know whether movie audiences allow for. For that anymore in this movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a good question. I wonder, because I wish they would.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I think you and I would. But, like, you know, all our, like, Marxist, materialist girls, like, I don't know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, it feels.

[Amanda Dobbin]

You know what I'm saying?

[Sean Fennessy]

I do. We can't make movies based on that, though. Like, I feel like, oddly, this movie has more respect for its audience because it doesn't pretend to have this, like, false dramatic sense of urgency.

[Amanda Dobbin]

But, you know, I do think people expect a speech where, like, the moral, like, and the like is read aloud allowed to them.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. It's just not necessary. Because, for example, let's take a scene, the scene when Veronica arrives into San Diego and she doesn't know the town well. She's just come in from a different. A different place where she had been working as a newscaster. And Ron wants to take her out on a date, but he's using it as a sort of, like, let me show you around the town. And he takes her to the Overlook, where you would presumably make out with someone. And he delivers this famous San Diego, you know, founded by the Germans in 19. You know, once you have that scene where she's smarter than him, you know, whale's vagina, all that stuff, it kind of eradicates the necessity of any overwritten speech about what this movie is really about. It's like, this guy's a fucking buffoon. He's kind of, at the absolute core, kind of sweet, you know, like, he does.

[Amanda Dobbin]

He likes his dog.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes, he does. He loves his dog.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And as you know, I have a complicated relationship with the deployment of animals and pets in movies, but this is perfectly done.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And also funny.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, the real dramatic hinge of the movie is not Veronica versus Ron. It's Ron throwing a burrito at Jack Black on a motorcycle. Jack Black skidding out and then going over to Ron. First of all, Jack Black's character asking, Ron, what do you love? And Ron's immediate response is, I love poetry. It always gets me. But then him grabbing Baxter, his little dog and punting him off of the side of a bridge. And then that sending Ron into a tailspin, which then disallows him from reading the news that day. Sure, that being the narrative crux of the movie is fucking hilarious.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And then also setting up the final resolution of the movie, which is Baxter, bless him, still alive and can speak bear, and comes to save them from The.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's an amazing movie.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Even the bear and dog dialogue in Swattell is just so funny.

[Sean Fennessy]

It is truly ridiculous.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I will tell tales if you heard compassion or whatever.

[Sean Fennessy]

We all live in the animal kingdom.

[Amanda Dobbin]

It's really funny.

[Sean Fennessy]

If you want to throw down fisticuffs, fine. I've got Jack Johnson and Tom o' Leary waiting for you right here. It's rare that a movie from this century, for me, can conjure the desire to just say movie dialogue.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

The men saying movie dialogue together. And I'm not gender essentializing. I'm merely speaking of my experiences. Is just. That is a love language, a friendship.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Of course.

[Sean Fennessy]

That is a way to communicate with your boys. And I don't have it as much anymore now. There are like a million reasons for it. We don't have as many comedies. I live in a house with two women and not my boys anymore. I am in my 40s, and that would seem a little bit ridiculous. Although I found myself in Atlanta with my brother, and we shared a room in a hotel.

[Amanda Dobbin]

That's very cute.

[Sean Fennessy]

And we just said Big Lebowski dialogue to each other.

[Amanda Dobbin]

That's really nice.

[Sean Fennessy]

So, yeah, it's still. It's. It's. It's buried deep, but it's still there.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I always, like, try to do that, but there's no one else who has my references.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, it's like, where do you go?

[Amanda Dobbin]

You know, like, no one. You know, everywhere in LA is 20 minutes. What's that from?

[Sean Fennessy]

I know where that's from.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah, see, there we go. It's done. But it's, like, clueless. But I have, like, a lot of. I have things that are either it's basically you've got mail or clueless that I repeat as if everybody would know it.

[Sean Fennessy]

You need more clueless gal pals. Well, I know this is a very popular.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I do. I do know that. But it's. It's not wired in us to be speaking the same way.

[Sean Fennessy]

You might just be stuck working at the ringer.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yes, I know.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's kind of an issue.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah, it's probably.

[Sean Fennessy]

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Just like choosing a movie to stream, State Farm has options to choose from to help you find coverage that best fits your needs. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer, availability, amount of discounts, and savings and eligibility Vary by state.

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[Sean Fennessy]

It's the ultimate bundle for an unbelievable price plan starting at 16.99amonth. Get it and watch Marvel Television's Ironheart on Disney. I want to build something iconic. A new season of the Bear on Hulu. We can make people happy. And the epic A Minecraft movie on Max.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Anything you can imagine is possible.

[Sean Fennessy]

The Disney Hulu Max Bundle plan starting at $16.99 a month. All these and more streaming soon. Terms apply. Visit disneyplushoolumaxbundle.com for details. Talk to me about Christina Applegate before because I feel like she's come up in the past and you've been like, eh, a little bit like she's not my favorite. But I feel like this is.

[Amanda Dobbin]

That's unfair.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay, tell me.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I don't know. I guess this is probably my number one connection because I Married with Children was not in. We just didn't watch it growing up. She's fantastic in this. She's really, really funny. And like Veronica has a very hard job of hanging with, you know, 45 men. She is like in this script, in the movie has like a lot more love for her and wants to help her. But it's like you have to play the sexist interloper. You know, like you gotta get it just right. And she does. She's hilarious. She's lit so beautifully. I just want to say that whoever did that and you can did a really good job. And even when they, that first scene, when they're cutting at the party, when they're cutting between her and Farrell, I'm like, okay, so we have different setups.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes. He doesn't get the same lighting trick.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah. Which is, I think, purposeful. And adds to the text which she looks great. I think it must be really. I mean, comedy is hard. I think comedy is hard. Also these people also all the men have worked together or have some sort of training together. And she's coming in, so hats off to her. Really good.

[Sean Fennessy]

There's not a lot of female comedy actresses that have her bona fides, her experience, you know, she obviously, I think she's a bit underrated in that she comes from a tradition of like Carol Lombard, Marilyn Monroe, you know, the, like the stunning blonde.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Who can hang with the boys, so to speak, who's just as funny. Who's just as funny as all of them. And I think this movie, for a certain generation of guys, maybe just a little bit younger than me, is like the first time that they ever saw her. But it wasn't just Married with Children. It was like, don't tell mom the babysitter's dead. It was sweetest thing. It was like there were a bunch of movies that were happening in the 90s and the 2000s where she was the lead of the movie. She was the lead of movies when she was like 20 years old. So she's an old hand, so to speak. And she's also won an Emmy, Golden Globes, Tony's. She's extremely accomplished. She's not as much in the culture because she was diagnosed with Ms. And so she doesn't perform nearly as much as she used to. But I think her character is pretty well written because it also doesn't. She doesn't take herself too seriously. Like very early on in the film, she gets to do voiceover, which shifts the perspective pretty dramatically in the movie. And then she says, this is definitely a man's world. But while they're laughing and grab assing, I'm chasing down leads and practicing my non regional dictionary. There's a recognition of the fact that she also is kind of an insecure hustler, just like all these other guys. So as much as the movie is about the fragility of the male psyche.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Even in the 1970s when men ran everything right. It's also about her own vulnerability, fragility.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I even think that the scene like the end of their night out when she is like desperately attracted him and it's like. But I never mix professional and something like she is playing that as a, you know, a parody of that type of woman who has a bad situation before and is, you know, and she's also weak and can't help it. So it's very funny.

[Sean Fennessy]

The Rest of the cast is a pretty amazing collection of people who are great with three shots a night. Fred Willard in kind of a Glory Third Generation. He's already smoking the Christopher Guest movies by this point. After all of his years in comedy, it's one of the first times I can remember seeing Kathryn Hahn.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Oh, interesting. This is 2004, so you wouldn't have seen how to Lose a guy in 10 days before this.

[Sean Fennessy]

I probably did.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Okay, well, she is a very vital and memorable.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is she best friend.

[Amanda Dobbin]

She's the Des. She's the one who keeps doing everything wrong. And so. And she's like, calling and crying and being like, I showed up at his door after one coffee.

[Sean Fennessy]

Are you surprised at all that Katherine Hahn has emerged as an icon?

[Amanda Dobbin]

No, I get it. I love her. She's.

[Sean Fennessy]

Her funniest performance to me is in Stepbrothers. That's where she's at her best.

[Amanda Dobbin]

But I like that she gets to do other things now. And I'm like, I'm very drawn to her. I mean, never forget her performance on the Bill Simmons podcast where she read her husband's letter. That was elite stuff. That's a comedy icon.

[Sean Fennessy]

She's an excellent podcast guest.

[Amanda Dobbin]

She's all. She's also in the meme is. Is she staring at Rachel Weisz, like, very lovingly during one of the round tables?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah. I mean, it's.

[Sean Fennessy]

You relate to that.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I really relate to that. But listen, she has range. She has longevity. I have been with Katherine Hahn since the beginning.

[Sean Fennessy]

You mentioned Carell. The Office was on at this time, was it not? I'm trying to think what year. What year did the American Office launch?

[Amanda Dobbin]

American sitcom 2005. So. No, this was before. Before, yeah. So this would have been Daily show. And he was familiar.

[Sean Fennessy]

Interesting.

[Amanda Dobbin]

But not before. This is before office and before 40 year old virgin.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, thank you for saying the Daily show, because that's also an important part of this is the fake news as an idea. And it. You know, and that's something that obviously SNL had been doing for years with Weekend Update, but that being a part of the culture and also at a time, even though this movie, I would not say is overtly politically about America in 2004.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

This era of everyone in charge is a fucking moron.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Which then would go on to become kind of definitional to what Adam McKay's movies were, it being steeped in that without being about that, I think also hugely helps the movie.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Absolutely.

[Sean Fennessy]

So let's talk about McKay a little bit. It's been on the show a couple times. I really like Adam's movies. I think he has taken a turn in the culture where he takes more blows than he used to.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah, well, you know, you're just. If you're tweeting about the politics of Wicked, once again, everybody that we've just talked about, Apatow, Adam McKay, just. You hit Twitter, you post too much, and then things fall.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's a big part of it. That's a big part of it. I think if you don't. And obviously, I think both of those guys would say it's my duty to speak out about what I think is wrong in the world. But I think most people in the world perceive their duty to be. To entertain them, and there's a. There's a tension there.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think Adam as a filmmaker, the more he's gotten interested in his ideas and less interested in the comedy, people have been a little bit confused as kind of like, what. What he wants, what he's going for. Does he want to be strictly an ideologue? Does he want to be somebody who thinks entertainment first? You know, him and Ferrell were very, very special together.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

And, you know, there's some suggestion that the winning Time series was where things got a little bit fractured between them. They obviously had a company together for many years, Gary Sanchez Productions, which produced a ton of really funny movies. They're still, like the Gloria Sanchez arm of the company. They're still producing stuff, but not necessarily in tandem the way that they used to.

[Amanda Dobbin]

But remember the Landlord?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. I mean, that digital comedy. You know, the online viral comedy thing.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Give Me My Money?

[Sean Fennessy]

They helped launch that. Was that Adam's daughter?

[Amanda Dobbin]

I think so. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

They.

[Amanda Dobbin]

It's really funny.

[Sean Fennessy]

There is a long tradition of the kind of, like, festering, angry comedy writer at SNL going all the way back to Michael o' Donohue, powering the dopey tall guy, you know, the Chevy chases of the world, and making them an avatar for the idiocy of the world at large. One of the key roles that Ferrell played when he was on the show was George W. Bush. George W. Bush is a target of Anchorman.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

He is the kind of person that.

[Amanda Dobbin]

This movie is about and modeled. And, you know, maybe not. Maybe not the look specifically, but certainly the affect, the staring into the camera and we'll say whatever's on the prompter and won't even think about it.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. And the overconfidence in the communication of information, that is probably false.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, this Believe Diversity, that was my. That's my feeling. I could be wrong, but I believe Diversity is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era. Why would wooden ships be used during the Civil War? Unexamined. I think all of that stuff, the fact that McKay is able to make that stuff to make us think about it without having to say it, is one of the great powers of the movie and one of the reasons why I like it so much. I'm very curious where his career goes. I'm very curious what kind of movies he makes. Don't look up as much kind of slings and arrows as it Took.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

Is one of the most successful movies in the history of Netflix. So it's not as though, like, he has become an obscure filmmaker, because he's not at all. And he's had success in tv, too. He was gonna make that movie with Robert Downey Jr. And Robert Pattinson, I think, about an assassination. Do you remember this? The thing got canceled.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Oh, it got canceled.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. They. They killed it. I think it was going to be a Netflix movie and they killed it. Yeah. So I actually don't know what he's doing next, but the arc of his career is really interesting because it was just. It pressed the limits of absurdity. And then I find that the Other Guys is the turning point, because the Other Guys is basically about the financial crisis and the absurdity of the banking system in this country and the way that wealth and capital operates. And the first time you saw it, you were like, I think this is actually about something different than Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell being, you know, silly partners together.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

And then the second time you watch it, you're like, oh, man. It's like a manifesto of some kind. And then every other movie since has been kind of a manifesto.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is probably. This is still my favorite of his. Of his films, I think.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah. I think this is number one. Step Brothers up there. I really like the Big Short. Big Short gets the combination of manifesto and ensemble and. And funny moments and just like, trying stuff. Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

And then it is kind of structurally audacious.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right. Margot Robbie and the Bathtub. Like, the first time is you're kind of. Is amusing, you know, and then.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, you can feel that stuff in this movie. You know, the big fight sequence in this movie where all the news teams go to war with each other is the kind of like, record scratch. We're going to a different kind of movie feeling, which I love that stuff. I love the ability to, like, break form the way that he does over and over again. So that's a really cool thing that he does. Will Ferrell.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Now, you know, Elf came before this, and Old School came before this.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Old School was before this. Oh, I didn't realize that.

[Sean Fennessy]

So he's already done by the time this movie comes around, you know, not just Austin Powers.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And old school is 2003. Wow. Yeah, I guess that makes sense because I watched it about 8,000 times in college.

[Sean Fennessy]

I saw it not too long ago and still laughed really hard.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I think maybe bed bath me on nice little Saturday. Like, I think about that every single Saturday.

[Sean Fennessy]

To me, Vince Vaughn is the best part of that movie, though.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah, I agree.

[Sean Fennessy]

And he is the one who is the. Like.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

He is truly trapped emotionally.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, he's the one who doesn't really is having a harder time coming to grips. Will Ferrell is like, he just got married and is confused.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

Vince Vaughn has a family, like, and.

[Amanda Dobbin]

He'S Frank the day. He's just, like, running naked.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, he's the. He's the Belushi for sure. But, you know, Elf was a massive.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Hit and Elf not on our list. Sorry. To anyone who's.

[Sean Fennessy]

There is a. I didn't even consider it.

[Amanda Dobbin]

It does look like something about Feral's comedy. I mean, it is overgrown child, overgrown fantastical child who doesn't understand how this world works. But there is also still something sweet about his. The difference between Ferrell and Chevy Chase is that Chevy Chase is an asshole and. And which can be very funny. And Will Ferrell has something ultimately harmless, if ridiculous about him.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. I mean, I'm looking at his movies since the Other Guys, which was in 2010, and there's some really funny stuff, but there's nothing that really got close to that.

[Amanda Dobbin]

No.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, and a lot of successful movies, you know, Daddy's Home and the Lego Movie. He's a big part of. And there was, of course, Anchorman 2.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

Which I didn't revisit for this conversation, though I think I remember liking more than the consensus, which was that it was kind of like a bloated, been there, done that.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

But to me was also a very pointed political text about the rise of cable news and the way that cable news, like, infest people's minds. That, you know, that movie was made in 2013 and, like, look at us now. We are trapped inside the pain cave of disinformation. But I think you can make the case that not only is 2004 the pinnacle of his Comedy powers, but it's also the pinnacle of him and McKay working together and that they just, they, they. We talked about this with Alex Garland and Danny Boyle, Right. That some creative people find each other and they just make each other better.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

And I've always.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Lennon and McCartney very much.

[Sean Fennessy]

And I really feel that with McKay and Farrell. And I really. I really hope that they will one day get back together and make sure. I think they're very special together. And honestly, what could be. I don't know if they need to go back to Ron Burgundy per se, but what could be better than, like men in their 50s kind of looking at what men in their 50s have done to the world, but in not such an obvious way?

[Amanda Dobbin]

Also, would that put Ron burgundy in Reagan's 80s?

[Sean Fennessy]

I think that's what. That's what two is about.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Two is still in the 80s?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Oh, that's. Well, that's 90s.

[Sean Fennessy]

No, it's like. Yeah, it's like late 80s. What else. Where else should we go from here? I mean, this movie was not a huge box office success. It did okay.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

And then it was an all time DVD classic. Everybody I knew.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Exactly.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And watched it 1,000 times in college.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, Ebert only gave it three stars.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Ayo Scott basically gave it three stars.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Well, you know, they don't give out stars.

[Sean Fennessy]

It wasn't hailed.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I don't. The comedies are seldom understood in their. In their time, so. You know, I've.

[Sean Fennessy]

I've talked about this a lot on the rewatchables. Let's talk about this, because was Picasso.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Celebrated in his time?

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes, he absolutely was. He was very famous in.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Well, sure, that's true. Yeah. And lots of wives. Then. Who am I thinking of? Whatever.

[Sean Fennessy]

Vincent Van Gogh, obviously.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Fancy. That's right. That's what I meant. Sure. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Took that year, made himself a legend, died, you know, never to be heard from again. Except we all want to pay $38 million for his.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Did you read that James Frey or James Fry piece? You know, where he just like, owns Picassos? Whatever. Different conversation.

[Sean Fennessy]

I absolutely did not read that piece. But we can talk about it all too.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I'm just kind of like where plagiarism leads to whatever.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. I mean, being infamous has its power, I think. I don't know how to get back on track.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Well, I mean, you know, the confident men who put themselves out there.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well done.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And then. And reap the benefits, I guess.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. I think the thing I was trying to think about was critics are usually roughly our age. The Sort of like leading critics of the time are usually in their 40s and 50s when they have reached the place where they become the authorities that you go to.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

This is not a movie that if I saw it today, I would understand or build the same relationship to as I did when I was 22.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

Because I've lost a kind of adolescent joy. It still existed. And I've often used this to explain the appeal to people my age of Adam Sandler, which is when you were 14 or 18 when Happy Gilmore or Billy Madison came out, or Tommy Boy for Chris Farley. Like that. That generation that is right before Will Ferrell. If you were a 48 year old man working at a local newspaper in Iowa and you watched Chris Farley, I could understand saying, like, I get it, but this isn't really a very good movie.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right. I'm not laughing out loud. Yes.

[Sean Fennessy]

Or even if it made me laugh, like it isn't a great film. Anchorman, to me is unusual in that it is actually a great film, even if it is not athletic or.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right. Well, there are different, you know, there are a lot of different ways to make a great film and we can reward a lot of different things. And we are trying to reward a lot of different things on this list, which is one thing I wanted to ask you and just kind of put out there is like, why can we only have one comedy on the list, you know?

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, we could have done whatever we wanted.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right. But we chose to have Something's Gotta.

[Sean Fennessy]

Give that's a comedy.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Sure. But it's like a different, you know, it's a different type of filmmaking that is more, I guess, like script and character and production design.

[Sean Fennessy]

Those two movies, though, I think this is notable and not true of all the movies we could have put on, are both about the complicated attempt of men and women to communicate with each other.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

Which is a theme of this show.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right? Yes, but. So there are things that we respond to, but there are a lot of different ways to put the pieces together. Right. And a lot of different ways to make something great. So this is, I think, obviously, like the performances and the improv contribute to a lot of it, but a very fine line to walk in terms of script and ideas. And it could go very wrong and could be very gross, but instead it is absolutely seared into all of our brains because it's the funniest thing alive.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. And has a tinge of sweetness.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, it's not an acid burn movie. Whereas I feel like a lot of the movies you know, the Hangover is like kind of a mean spirited movie. It's very. It's, to me, still very funny. There are jokes now that don't feel sensitive to 20, 25 or what have you, but it still has that kind of like electric energy.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

That when Todd Phillips is at his best, I think he brings to the table. But it's. It's. It's nasty. It's made by somebody who's like, fuck everybody. Yeah, everybody's an asshole. And including the stars of my movie. These guys are assholes. Anchorman knows these guys are really, really fucked up, but they're not like David Koechner, for example, in this movie as Champ Kind, the sportscaster. I think he's really, really funny. He has one scene in particular where they're talking about the pancake breakfast that they have every month, and he and Ron and Brian Fantana and Paul Rudd's character are talking. And Champ realizes that Ron is starting to drift away from him, away from the boys, because he's falling in love with Veronica. And he just starts saying how he feels, which is that he wants to be close to him and he wants to get an apartment with him because he just. He loves him. He loves his friend. And maybe he loves him even more than that. Maybe he's got something going on underneath that he hasn't totally reckoned with because of this huge performance of masculinity. And it's like, kind of sad and weird, but kind of sweet. You know, there's something underneath camp kind.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yes. It's not. It's not ugly.

[Sean Fennessy]

It's not ugly. Yes. He's not beating the shit out of Ron because of his own self hatred about how he feels about Ronald, which is a theme you can find in many films. In the early 2000s, that was also as, like, kind of a rise in much more sensitive LGBTQ filmmaking was hitting Hollywood. This movie is also kind of exploring that there is, like, how the boys are quality to this movie that is very, very funny. So I'm happy it's here. I don't really have an excuse for why it's the only comedy. There are funny aspects of other movies we're doing in the future.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I think that the comedy is essential to most of the other movies.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah. Even in the top five, I can think of at least three movies that are very, very funny.

[Amanda Dobbin]

So it's more just. This is like the formal comedy and the studio comedy, and we had other things that we wanted to honor. But when you think of all the movies that aren't on the list. It does feel a little stupid. It's not stupid, but it's just kind of. It's a tough list of movies that didn't make the cut.

[Sean Fennessy]

Can they come back?

[Amanda Dobbin]

Can they come back on the list? Oh, studio comedies. I don't know. Because you made a good point about how it's. It's the 22 year olds who kind of. Who. The young people who have a kind of fantastic, essential response to it that makes it. And the young. Young people do go to movies, sort of. But I don't think they expect expected in this format anymore. Right. They have other formats for comedy.

[Sean Fennessy]

We are just like a month away from the Naked Gun.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

Which I think obviously is very different because it is based on a. You know, it's a. It's a reboot of an older comedy ip, but it's going for the same energy that we're describing because it's a. It's a studio theatrically released movie.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

With stars. That has Jokim in it.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right.

[Sean Fennessy]

And obviously I thought the trailer was really funny. We saw it together. But it seems like people are kind of into it.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Sure. No, I think that's true. But like I. I sat between you and Matt Bellamy and had a great time and you were both chuckling. But like, you guys ain't 22. You know what I'm saying?

[Sean Fennessy]

It's a great point. All my 22 year olds. Jack Sanders, you gonna go see the Naked Gun? I will. I wouldn't say I'm like dying to see it, but I will see it. Jesus Christ, Jack, help me out here, buddy. Recommend it if you like.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah, I don't even.

[Sean Fennessy]

Everybody's seen this movie. This is not Melancholia. You know what I mean? This is not one where people are like, oh, I've been meaning to check that out. Dumb and dumber. Austin Powers are obvious. Right. Caddyshack, Airplane. Those are obvious. History of The World Part 1.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I don't know what that is.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's a Mel Brooks movie. I think a lot of those Mel Brooks movies. Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, on and on and on. Superbad.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Sure.

[Sean Fennessy]

Certainly.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

But then I think also Network, it's a good.

[Amanda Dobbin]

It's a good call if you like.

[Sean Fennessy]

Network, which I think is hilarious. We've just seen a film that reminded me a lot of Network.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah. Just last night.

[Sean Fennessy]

This kind of like the chaos.

[Amanda Dobbin]

So network is hilarious, but it's not ha ha funny. It's a difference.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know me in a movie theater, though, and I'm like. I'm happy to be the only person laughing at a scene. Like, it is the same. That same energy. Anchorman is like, we're all laughing together.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Right, right, right, right, right. No, I think. I think network is like, I'm laughing because I'm horrified. Sort of.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Amanda Dobbin]

And. But that. But that's fine.

[Sean Fennessy]

As Ron Burgundy would say. I'm not even mad. That's amazing.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I do think that, you know, obviously, they both take place in newsrooms in the 70s.

[Sean Fennessy]

Exactly my point. Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbin]

There you go.

[Sean Fennessy]

About the incursion of corporate influence on our lives. You know, women in the newsroom.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Christina Applegate's styling is not unlike Faye Dunaway's.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's right. Diana Christensen. They're very similar. In fact, I would be stunned if that was not a reference.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I think it is, definitely. Especially that first white pantsuit is absolutely a FAE 100% reference. The hair. Good. You know, you got a reference. That's a good one.

[Sean Fennessy]

I just can't get so many words from this movie out of my head. Words that we'd never heard together.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

Like Panda Watch. Like, I just. No one had ever said those words together. I said, they say them all the time now on the Ringer fantasy football show. It's an ongoing bit that they have Great Odin's raven. You know, there's just a lot of Will stuff. Will just saying things out loud. I'd love to know. I'd like to see the original shooting.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Script and how much of that is kind of Pre.Pre engineered vs off the top of his head.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yes.

[Amanda Dobbin]

You had to figure that there were, like, a lot of alts for Great Odin's Raven.

[Sean Fennessy]

You know, 100%. They probably shooting many of those, and.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I'm sure they're very funny.

[Sean Fennessy]

The opening sequence of the film where we watch Ron Burgundy warming up and doing his vocal exercises, it just almost feels like I've never really quite seen it before. It almost feels like the blooper reel before the movie starts, where he's kind of working on. He's like lanolin, like sheep's wool. The Human Torch was denied a bank loan. You know, there's like, so many of those gags that feel very written, but it also feels like there's a really, really smart person behind the camera just saying phrases out loud, fast.

[Amanda Dobbin]

But to me, it almost feels like it. You know, they get him in hair and makeup, and they put him behind the desk, and they're just like, start talking.

[Sean Fennessy]

Just go.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Or it's like free association. Yeah. Or they're just like, you know, they throw out a word, and then he.

[Sean Fennessy]

Starts going, why do you not do vocal exercises before our recordings? Have you considered that? What would you do? What. What syllables do you struggle with?

[Amanda Dobbin]

Ours.

[Sean Fennessy]

Ours.

[Amanda Dobbin]

As you know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Okay. I don't know. Well, Trolls World Tour is just very. It's. But that's like rural juror, you know, how do we.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah, how do we get you doing?

[Amanda Dobbin]

Ours are really. I'm very American. It's really tough.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbin]

You know, and I've, like, worked on it for many years.

[Sean Fennessy]

You can't do, you know, foreign dialogues.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I can, but it's always like, you know, you don't want to be the person. Be like, croissant, you know, why not?

[Sean Fennessy]

What would be wrong with that?

[Amanda Dobbin]

Really obnoxious.

[Sean Fennessy]

Yeah.

[Amanda Dobbin]

So it's. I don't have. Just like, the natural in between are.

[Sean Fennessy]

I gotta think. I don't really struggle with too much diction is not an issue for me.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

That's my one.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Congratulations.

[Sean Fennessy]

My one thing. As I told you, I once. I once trained a classroom of sixth graders on how to be a game show host. This is something I. Part of the reason why I like this movie is because the puffery of Ron is, you know, I. That's the small part of my character. The puffery of whatever this is that we're doing here together. Some quick data points here. Ron Burgundy was ranked the 16th best movie character of all time in a 2020 poll by Empire.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Okay.

[Sean Fennessy]

Seems pretty high, actually, in the history of movies. Some recency bias there, perhaps. Rolling Stone ranked it as the 13th best 21st century comedy. That's shocking.

[Amanda Dobbin]

All right.

[Sean Fennessy]

Shocking.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Is that high or low? Shocking.

[Sean Fennessy]

Way too low. 13.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

I mean, Indiewire said it was the seventh best. Yeah, and as I said, I said it was number one on the September 3rd.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I read that Indiewire list, and like, Along Came Polly was in the top 10, which I like. I understand, because that's Philip Seymour Hoffman.

[Sean Fennessy]

He's amazing in it. But the movies.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah, I would agree. So, you know.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbin]

You got to know context. Our list is the only list for us.

[Sean Fennessy]

You are having some doubts about the next movie on our list?

[Amanda Dobbin]

Yeah, I noticed that you didn't respond to my text message.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, I thought I would be seeing you very shortly, and here I am with you. I have no doubts. I know. I understand. The other movie that you're trying to get on, is there another place to get it on? You just might have to have a blood sacrifice if you want to get it. On. That's the thing you got to think about.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I am having a blood sacrifice, and I want to sacrifice the next movie.

[Sean Fennessy]

No, that's not a blood sacrifice for you.

[Amanda Dobbin]

The Next Movie has been a point of discussion, contention, doubt, incrimination, complication, both for this project and on this podcast. It's great programming for an episode. Right? Because we'll have a very wide ranging conversation.

[Sean Fennessy]

It could be like an hour and a half, but.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Oh, my God. Yeah.

[Sean Fennessy]

But not just about the movie, because of all the components.

[Amanda Dobbin]

No, no, no, no, I think you're right. But also about all of the other movies. That. Why it's that particular movie and not 15 other movies. And why it was so difficult for us to make this decision. I looked at the list, and I still think that this is. I think the next one's the weakest spot.

[Sean Fennessy]

Okay.

[Amanda Dobbin]

But, you know, it's a group project, I guess.

[Sean Fennessy]

I think there are some other folks out in the world who might say that some of the other films are weaker and the films to come could even be weaker.

[Amanda Dobbin]

They are once again invited to make their own lists and their own podcasts.

[Sean Fennessy]

Well, they're doing that at the New York Times now.

[Amanda Dobbin]

I know it's a great project. I just want to say thank you to Sofia Coppola for putting Michael Haneke's the White Ribbon on her personal top 10. My dad is thrilled.

[Sean Fennessy]

I'm thrilled. As always, a woman of taste. I think we should go out this way. Well, all of us here at the Big Picture, I'm Sean Fenison. You stay classy, San Diego.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Thanks for stopping by.

[Sean Fennessy]

But mainly stay classy.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Thanks for stopping by.

[Sean Fennessy]

Stay classy. I'm Sean Fenisy.

[Amanda Dobbin]

Thanks for stopping by.

[Sean Fennessy]

Stay classy. Sean Fenisy. Sam.