Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues parents guide

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Parent Guide

Television news has long been ripe for a good spoof and in that regard "Anchorman: The Legend Continues" hits its mark. However, young audiences will likely miss the point.

Overall C-

Anchorman Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) is back in this sequel that continues to spoof the news industry. Also starring are Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner in a script promising the same sexual humor as the last time you tuned in.

Release date December 18, 2013

Violence B-
Sexual Content D
Profanity C-
Substance Use D+

Why is Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues rated PG-13? The MPAA rated Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues PG-13 for crude and sexual content, drug use, language and comic violence.

Run Time: 118 minutes

Official Movie Site

Parent Movie Review

If you saw the original Anchorman (also called Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy), you may be wondering how Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) ever managed to keep his job at the San Diego television station. Well that question is answered at the start of this sequel when Mr. Burgundy, who is expecting a promotion to the network news desk, is instead declared by his boss (Harrison Ford) to be the worst anchor in the history of broadcast news. Adding insult to injury, his co-anchor—who also happens to be his wife (Christina Applegate)—gets offered the big gig. That leaves Burgundy’s ego with no choice but to pack up and leave… his job and his wife.

Month’s later the washed up journalist is living in a drunken stupor and working as an announcer at Sea World. But with the dawn of the 1980s, new opportunities are emerging. Burgundy’s phone inexplicably rings with an offer to anchor at the world’s first 24-hour news station. After a short road trip, his old news team is soon back together. This includes reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) and sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner).

Predictably our protagonist’s narcissism gets the best of him just moments after his arrival at GNN headquarters in Atlanta where he discovers he is king of the 2 AM newscast. Betting the equally cocky primetime anchor (played by James Marsden) that he can best him in the ratings, Burgundy places his team in a do or die situation. This leads to one insightful aspect of this movie: Just like much of the real industry’s desperate trend to get high viewer numbers, the movie’s overnight crew decides to ignore serious news and to go after more people-pleasing items like patriotic feel-good pieces, gossip tidbits, weather disasters and live helicopter coverage of car chases down freeways. Mixed in with these scenarios are coy references to actual stories from the decade involving white broncos, hurricanes and an infamous domestic dispute that resulted in a shocking male dismemberment.

Sadly this sarcastic commentary on the state of broadcast news is constantly punctuated with sexual innuendo within way-too-long scenes of Will Ferrell and his buddies hamming it up in undoubtedly unscripted gags. While the cast appears to be having a good time, you may grow tired of listening to their banter, which is reminiscent of grade school boys on a playground. Also expect a wide variety of profanities, a sexual expletive, some sexual situations (that go beyond dialogue), drug use in a comedic context and a few punches during heated confrontations. Another scene depicts a depressed character attempting suicide.

Having personally spent years in television stations during the period this movie portrays, I was laughing at the inside humor and was equally impressed with the historical accuracy. Television news has long been ripe for a good spoof and in that regard Anchorman: The Legend Continues hits its mark. However young audiences attracted to this film will likely miss the point of how egotism and ratings color decisions determining what is “real” news, and many will not get the jokes stemming from 1980s culture. Rather, they will see a cool, suave hero who drinks and snorts his way through life and rises to the top of popularity. And that message may not be good news for family viewers.

Directed by Adam McKay. Starring Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell. Running time: 118 minutes. Theatrical release December 18, 2013. Updated

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Rating & Content Info

Why is Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues rated PG-13? Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for crude and sexual content, drug use, language and comic violence.

Violence: (All violence is within a comedic context.) During a verbal dispute, a man punches another man. In another argument, a man attempts to punch a woman but misses—she responds by punching him in the face. A group of men and women, all representing competing news teams, meet in a large park and begin a hand-to-hand battle that soon involves other non-ammunition weapons; some minor injuries are seen and an obviously fake eyeball is seen stuck to the end of a hockey stick. Contemplating suicide, a man prepares a noose to hang from, but his attempt humorously fails. Many scenes include verbal confrontation.

Sexual Content: Frequent sexual references, discussion and innuendo are heard throughout. An unmarried man and woman begin engaging sexual activity—no explicit details are seen. Characters discuss masturbation, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies and other topics using a variety of crude and clinical sexual terms.

Language: A single sexual expletive is used. A variety of other profanities are heard throughout, along with multiple uses of terms of Christian deity as expletives. Derogatory remarks toward various individuals and groups are heard including gays, lesbians and followers of Haitian Vodou.

Alcohol / Drug Use: A man is about to use crack cocaine while on television, the film cuts to the next scene where he and others are being arrested. A later comment jokes about using this illegal substance. A man is seen drinking in a number of scenes, at one point appearing to be inebriated and it is implied he has a drinking problem. A character is seen with a cigarette.

Page last updated

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues Parents' Guide

In this film broadcast news is seen as having a greater priority on style and personality than on delivering the most important news. How true do you think this portrayal is? What role do ratings play in this equation? What kind of news are you most interested in?

Is news reporting important in a democracy? Do you feel journalism today is better or worse than it was in Ron Burgundy’s time (roughly 30 years ago)?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues movie is April 1, 2014. Here are some details…

Home Video Notes: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Release Date: 4 April 2014

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues releases to home video in a Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD), which includes the following bonus materials:

3 Versions of the Movie

-Super-Sized R-Rated Version – with 763 New Jokes!

- Original Theatrical Version

- Unrated Version

Over 4 Hours of Bonus Content

- Commentary with Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Judd Apatow, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner (Unrated Version)

- 5 Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes:

-Newsroom - Inside the making of the film o RV

- Dissecting the RV tumble o News Fight

- Inside the biggest, baddest all-star celebrity brawl

- Baxter & Doby

- The lovable animals of Anchorman 2

- Anchorman 2: The Musical - A look at the musical sequel that almost was

Over 90 Minutes of Deleted and Alternate Scenes

- 2 Line-O-Rama’s – Outtakes!

- Rare Cast Audition Tapes

- 2 Gag Reels

- Cast Table Reads – Original Script Read-Throughs

- And Much More!

Related home video titles:

This movie is the sequel to the 2004 film, Anchorman (also called Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy). Behind the scenes of the news industry is also examined in Morning Glory, Groundhog Day and the more serious Mad City.