Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues - 3 stars

Anchorman 2 is probably a better movie than the first one.  As much as I liked Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, it's not a movie I like to watch from start to finish.  It's the kind of movie I like to watch for 15 or 20 minutes when it's on cable.  There are a number of hilarious scenes, but as a complete narrative I find it a little unsatisfying. 

The sequel is a little better in that respect, but not by too much.  It has a very random feel.  One scene doesn't always lead to the next, and it could have been edited a dozen different ways without making it a different movie.  But there is more story structure than in the first movie. 

The movie starts with Ron and his wife Veronica Corningstone as co-anchors in New York.  When Veronica is promoted to be the first female national news anchor, Ron is fired.  He reacts as well as you would expect him to, and he and Veronica split up.  He heads back to San Diego and just when he's at his lowest point, he gets a job offer to join a brand new 24 hour cable news network.  He gets his old news team back together - Champ Kind (David Koechner), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) - and they head to New York.  Wackiness ensues.

There's not much more to say without spoiling where the story goes.  There are a ton of jokes, and not all of them work.  But if one doesn't make you laugh, there will be another 30 seconds later.  I spent the entire movie either chuckling or laughing out loud.  There is some great stunt casting, and there is another battle involving multiple news teams ("No touching of the hair and face!").  Not all of the stunt casting works (this just isn't Harrison Ford's type of movie), but don't look at the cast list on imdb because most of the joke is just who shows up.

Only a few minor complaints.  For one, I wish they had more of Ed Harken (Fred Willard) in this movie.  Also, I think they used Brick too much.  When the first movie came out, Steve Carell wasn't a big star.  He had some crazy, random lines that were just hilarious, and he was used sparingly.  But since 2004, The Office has come and gone, and they probably figured they needed to feature Carell more.  He still has some great moments in this movie, but sometimes it just seems like he is trying way too hard.  Brick works best when he's low key, not when he's standing in the middle of a room and screaming.

Anyway, the movie is funny.  Go see it.