Mainly linked together with voice over and alternate takes this attempts to be the unofficial sequel to the comedy genius that is Anchorman.
I have said it before and will happily say it again to all that will listen, I believe Anchorman to be the funniest film in the last 15 years, a truly hilarious character invention and performance by Will Ferrell, his supporting cast and various cameos and the best thing Adam McKay and him will ever do. So for me the idea of there being more of that is an idea worth going with, savoring and imaging the film that could've been.
Essentially and almost unbelievably, there is a whole bank robber subplot, with crucial scenes and fairly large set pieces that was ditched in its entirety from the original film and I can only imagine that it was that stuff lying around that prompted the DVD only release of this. The plot, the cast and the scenes are resurrected here as the driving storyline behind this patchy, yet in its own way, pretty special and fairly good movie. Throw in scenes of Ron Burgundy trying his hand at being a roving reporter, a visit to his mentor Jess Moondragon, some truly inspired stuff with the team in the San Diego mountains and a borderline disturbing scene where Champ Kind, ignored mercilessly by the rest of the crew, declares in loud and raw terms his special love for Ron and you have your new film.
It's all completely slap-shot, not as polished or finessed as the footage that wound up in the finished film and some of the hundreds of jokes, inevitably, fall flat but when you consider the rolls and rolls of film that must've been shot to make both movies possible it boggles the mind box. Also, arguably, this film has more of a traditional plot! In the original, the love story obviously takes more of center stage and informs the plot arc of the picture, with the denouement in the zoo really not adding anything plot-wise to the proceedings but it is all the better for that, here when they do go back to the robbing gang and away from the Channel 4 news team, it's unfunny and you lose interest quick.
Ultimately though, if you are a DVD movie extras geek like me then you will love this innovative way to string all of the out-takes together but if you didn't much care for the original then save your breath, your money and buy something else, you know, like a gimp mask and a grapefruit or something.
Wake Up Ron Burgundy is way funnier than it has any right to be, great to see the cast happy to try just about anything and if Anchorman the special edition doesn't have enough of Papa Burgundy and the boys then pick this up and revel in silly for 2 more hours. I don't know about you but I'm sort of a big deal, my apartment smells of rich mahogany and I have many leather bound books.
7 out of 10 used coffee filters with cigarette butts sticking to them that Brick mistakes for food