Will Ferrell+Adam McKay=Hilarious
Funnymen Combination Creates Comic Gold, Next Film Step Brothers
Creating Farrell’s Persona, Anchorman
Will Farrell’s move to box office force really has been defined by the film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Ferrell had previously found some success co-starring in Old School and anchoring Elf, but his most enduring screen persona was forged with Anchorman, a film Ferrell co-wrote with Adam McKay, who also directed the film. Ferrell played the obnoxious, arrogant, sex-crazed news anchor Ron Burgundy. In the years that have followed Ferrell has continued to trade on this character type near-exactly, only interchanging news anchor for soccer coach (Kicking and Screaming), NASCAR driver (Talladega Nights), male figure skater (Blades of Glory), and semi-pro basketball player (Semi-Pro). The difference being, when Farrell has done his act with McKay, it’s been acknowledged as the funniest iterations of this character type.
Anchorman
The film introduced the world to Farrell’s typical screen persona, critics agreed it was funny (a 64% positive rating on critic tracker rottentomatoes.com), and the film become a minor classic still quoted in college dorms across America. Ferrell and McKay’s particular brand of partially-improvised character-based humor worked very well.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Another commercial hit for Ferrell and McKay, this film about a boorish NASCAR drive with two first names also resonated with critics (72% on RT). It was Ferrell’s most successful film since Anchorman. In between he labored on critical and commercial disappointments like The Producers, Kicking and Screaming, and Bewitched. Talladega Nights was Ferrell’s most successful film since Elf, a major hit with $148 million at the domestic box office.
Step Brothers Looks Funny
Ferrell and McKay have re-teamed again for Step Brothers, a film about two unrelated grown men forced to live in the same house when their parents remarry to each other. Since Talladega Ferrell has delivered the successful though mediocre Blades of Glory and the near-disastrous flop Semi-Pro, his worst critical reception for a lead role since 1998’s A Night at The Roxbury and his worst box office outing as a lead since 2005’s Melinda and Melinda. Both Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro utilized the Burgundy persona of Ferrell as a hard-drinking hyper-sexual lout.
The trailer for Step Brothers alone is funnier than long stretches of Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro. Ferrell is reunited with his Talladega costar John C. Reilly, with whom he shares fantastic comic chemistry. And McKay is back as co-writer and director, just like on Talladega and Anchorman. Expect a third stellar comedy from this magnificent duo.
