Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (15)

Directed by Adam McKay

4 Stars

After almost a decade the legend that is Ron Burgundy is back and he's just as chauvinistic and as clueless as ever in this totally insane satire on 24-hour news.

It is now the 1980s and Burgundy (Will Ferrell), having been fired from his job and watched his wife Veronica (Christina Applegate) being promoted to lead anchor, is now an obnoxious drunk working at Sea World where even the kids hate him.

As he hits rock bottom he is offered the position of a lifetime on the world's first 24-hour global cable news network in New York owned by an Australian multimillionaire who is a cross between Rupert Murdoch and Sir Richard Branson.

Burgundy rounds up the old motley news crew of sports guy Champ Kind (David Koechner), reporter at large Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) and weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) and they embark on making news both a ratings winner and car crash TV.

With the original Anchorman having become such a cult classic the bar was set extremely high for any sequel but fear not as this is just as funny and as bonkers.

Like the first film it is full of genius comedy moments followed by others that don't quite hit the mark. The jokes come thick and fast in every scene while the visual gags are surreal and ridiculously hilarious.

Co-written again by Ferrell and director Adam McKay the beauty of it is that it's a stand-alone comedy while paying homage to the original for the fans and again it is littered with star-studded cameos.

Ferrell and the gang, who took pay cuts to reunite for this film, are on magnificent form as they poke glorious fun at the insatiable phenomenon that has become 24-hour news.

If this proves just as successful as Anchorman then the legend could well continue into another classy sequel.

Maria Duarte