On NEWS ANCHOR

January 22nd

On NEWS ANCHOR

The words ‘News Anchor’ immediately made me think of Anchorman, which I often cite as the Greatest Movie of All Time. I don’t know if it is, it’s something I say to get people to watch it. But it made me think of what could possible be my five favourite comedies of the last 15 years (since 1993). These are the ones that had the greatest influence on me, in no particular order:

Anchorman (2004)

Ron Burgundy was the voice in my head for several years whenever I tried to make anything funny. My sketch group, Players Players, also stole Will Ferrell’s baritone for our classic businessmen sketch. It was also a key bridge – the apex of the Will Ferrell era (which made all other Will Ferrell sketches and films forgivable), but also the start of the Judd Apatow era. Also my introduction to actors Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, David Koechner, who all have a spot in may heart along with catchphrases.

Dumb and Dumber (1994)

This movie, reviled at the time by reactionary middle class types who couldn’t imagine liking a film with this title, and loved by my generation of high-school geeks, was overall super hilarious, but what set it apart from also great and loved Jim Carrey roles in Ace Ventura and Batman Forever (a great movie whose reputation was sullied in retrospect by association with the vomitorious Batman and Robin) was my identification with Lloyd Christmas’s crush on Lauren Holly’s character. Through high school and university I had crushes on dozens of girls and my fantasy was always modeled on Lloyd’s dream sequence set to The Cowsills.

Office Space (1999)

Like most of the world, I first caught this on video. In university I wrote a major paper comparing its liberation ideology to that of Fight Club and American Beauty. Its empathy got me through and eventually out of the Scotiabank office years, and also inspired a desire in me to think and act independently, as the main character does in the movie, and I truly believed that the respect I would gain from being my own man would outweigh the benefits of sucking up to my superiors. I haven’t always been able to act on this belief, and it’s something I still think about.


I Heart Huckabees (2004)

This movie epitomized the undergraduate experience for me in a way that Old School, a movie that I despised, did not, even though Huckabees was not set on a campus like Old School sort of was. The best part of Huckabees was how Jason Schwartzman and Mark Wahlberg (who, like Will Ferrell, have received criticism-free passes from me to do whatever they want in past or future because of this movie) float from idea to idea and are so galvanized by each one that the stakes of each scene go through the roof. Key moments: Scwartzman makes love to Isabelle Huppert in the filth, and Mark Wahlberg beats the fire truck to the fire with his fire bike (“I’m at the fire, where are you guys?”)

Tommy Boy (1995)

Far and away Chris Farley’s greatest achievement, he was a good to my high school friends and I. It was a major event when he died. He embodied physical comedy and giving everything to every moment. And he was perfectly contrasted to David Spade’s small sarcasm. One of the best comedy setpieces of all time: Chris Farley destroying a model car and lighting it on fire trying to demonstrate the importance of brakes. Reenacted by my friends and I dozens of times, this sequence is hardwired into my brain.

Honorable Mentions: 3 Wes Anderson movies (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, the Royal Tenenbaums), School of Rock, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Superbad, Tropic Thunder, Josie and the Pussycats. Also Austin Powers, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.