Synopsis:

Anchorman 2, but funny. And 36 minutes shorter. Crafted using a mixture of the Theatrical, Unrated, Super-Sized Version, and blu-ray supplemental material, the aim of this edit was to create a funnier, tighter film worthy of being a successor to the first Anchorman. Entire subplots have been removed, and jokes have been pulled from all commercially available material, resulting in a much more focused film and, in my opinion at least, a much funnier one as well.

Intentions:

While the first Anchorman remains one of my all-time favorite comedies, I hated the sequel. It was way too long, there was too much Brick, the Linda/Ron subplot was unbearable, there wasn't enough focus on the news team or Veronica, and the pacing was a mess. More than anything though, I just didn't find it funny. Matter of fact, there were times where it felt almost offensively unfunny. However, while sitting in the theater opening night, I noticed a trend among some of the jokes. Jokes that were initially funny proceeded to then be beaten into the ground until they were dead and I just wanted to go home. For years I've remembered that and always thought that surely there must be a good film in there somewhere, for if those jokes had just been cut earlier, they would have worked. That is how this edit came to be. My intention was to turn a comedy that I loathe into a comedy that I can enjoy. I believe I accomplished that.

Change List:

Oh boy, here we go. This is a basic list of the cuts, additions, and alterations that I made, using the Theatrical cut as a base. • Replaced intro with Super-Sized Version's. • Cut the Drake cameo. • While it isn't flawless, I was more-or-less able to remove Kristen Wiig's name from the opening credits (I removed her subplot with Brick entirely). • Elevator dialog replaced with bits from Super-Sized. • Mack Tannen scene has been tightened and shortened. • Ron and Veronica's argument at home has been shortened, and a portion of an alternate/deleted scene has been added back in. • SeaWorld scene is a mixture of Theatrical and Super-Sized versions. • Ron's explanation to Freddie about what he was doing when he tried to hang himself has been shortened. (Alterations like these were made in order to help the joke land harder, as opposed to the original cut's method of beating a joke to death). • Diner scene features a line replacement from the Super-Sized version. • Champ's chicken ad uses line from Super-Sized Version. • Conversation inside Champ's restaurant has been tightened. • Scene of getting Brian back on the team uses bits of Super-Sized version, and has been tightened. • Scene of Brick's funeral uses the Super-Sized version and has been shortened. • RV scene has been removed. While I enjoyed the the set-up ("One of the best decisions I've ever made is installing this deep-fryer in the Winnebago"), the slow-motion payoff just isn't funny enough and goes on for way too long, so I decided to remove it entirely as there just wasn't enough there to justify keeping it. • Welcome to GNN/Jack Lime introduction scene uses bits from Super-Sized, and has been shortened. • Linda Jackson's introduction uses bit from Super-Sized, and has been significantly shortened. • Brick's "I ain't afraid of no ghost" line has been removed, as has the entire Brick and Chani sequence (Again, Chani is entirely absent from this cut. Sorry, Kristen). • Ron talking to Veronica at the door uses a line from the Super-Sized version. • The Ron, Veronica, Greg and Walter scene has been shortened, and uses a bit from the Super-Sized version, along with a line from the Unrated. • The Jack Lime/Ron confrontation has been slightly shortened. • Kench Allenby's introduction has been significantly shortened with the help of the Super-Sized version. • The brainstorming scene uses a line from one of the Gag Reels, a line from one of the Line-o-Ramas, bits and pieces from the Super-Sized version, a line from the Unrated cut, and a portion of the post-credits scene. (phew!) • Entire Brick and Chani scene has, of course, been removed. • Deleted scene of the news team and Freddie scrambling to get ready for the 2AM broadcast has been shortened and reinserted. • Ron's pep talk to himself before the broadcast, along with the short control room scene, has been removed, mainly for pacing reasons. • The 2AM broadcast sequence uses the Unrated cut as a base, so Brian's repeated uses of the word "vagina" have all been retained. • Linda Jackson's reaction to Brian's "Top-20-Greatest-Vagina's" story has been replaced with the far less over-acted mug drop from the Super-Sized cut (You're welcome, Meagan Good). • Champ's "Whammy's" have been cut down from the original 18,000 to a comfortable four. • Brick's story about the wind has been shortened. • Linda Jackson storming in and firing the news team has been removed (Sorry, Meagan Good). In its place, portions of an alternate scene wherein the team is fired over the phone have been reinserted. • The meeting about GNN's first day ratings has been shortened (or rather the Super-Sized Version's cut of the scene has been used instead). • The News Team in their apartment scene sees some bits replaced and added from an alternate scene, along with a shot or two from the Super-Sized. • Freddie explaining the ratings has been slightly tightened. • The short scene of Veronica and Greg watching Ron has been removed in favor of more News Team bits (reinserted from deleted scenes). • Brian and Brick's advertisements have been removed. In order to accommodate the background music, slightly more dancing has been added from the Super-Sized cut. • The smoking crack scene switches to the Unrated version as they're lighting up. • Linda Jackson has been removed from the short Emmy scene. • After the "Perms for everyone" scene, a large chunk of the movie (00:56:02 to 01:08:53 of the Theatrical cut) has been completely removed. This includes almost the entire Ron/Linda subplot, the Koala airlines subplot (mainly a victim of losing the Ron/Linda stuff), the News Team scene after Linda's "meeting" with Ron (which includes Brian's World Famous Jimmy Cabinet, a.k.a. a weak retread of the first film's cologne cabinet scene, and I don't miss it), Brick's Saint Patty's Day broadcast (good riddance), and Brick and Chani at the soda machine. • A deleted scene featuring Brian and Champ encountering Jack Lime at a bar has been reinserted, albeit

Additional Notes:

Most of my process simply involved taking everything that I didn't find funny and either replacing it, removing it, or making it work in some other way. That was the main guideline, while pacing was the other. Believe it or not, I actually never cut anything in the interest of time alone, it just wound up being that much shorter as a result of everything else. I used the Theatrical cut as a base, pulling bits from the Unrated or Super-Sized Versions whenever I saw fit to do so. I also reinserted a couple deleted scenes along with bits from the gag reels and line-o-ramas. Unfortunately, the quality of some of the deleted scenes is not ideal as they're only available in 480i on the blu-ray, but I did my best to make their reintegration back into the film as seamless as possible. Watching from a comfortable distance on a 39" TV, I found the transitions to be relatively unnoticeable, but your mileage may vary on that one.

Other Sources:

The blu-ray was used for just about everything, with the only additional sources being: - Van Halen's "Dance the Night Away", purchased from us.7digital.com in FLAC - Several bits of foley purchased from soundsnap.com

Special Thanks:

Special thanks to Dr. Chim Richalds for bouncing ideas around with me in the forum thread.