Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
63
(38 sources)
63
(38 sources)
-
100
Film Threat
Full force Will Ferrell at his best. And as an added bonus, we all get one of the funniest movies of the year...that is if you don't mind your humor on the rude and crude side. Read Full Review » -
90
Slate
It strides above its crudeness like a colossus. It's smart people telling dumb jokes with a brilliant sense of irony. Anchorman gives you permission to laugh like an idiot. Read Full Review » -
90
Washington Post
You will laugh. Then you will laugh some more. Then you will laugh still again. Read Full Review » -
88
Baltimore Sun
To discover why movie fans are screaming for more Will Ferrell, and to savor the work of improv wizards like Carell, go see Anchorman. Read Full Review » -
80
Los Angeles Times
In this context Ferrell seems more than just comic relief. He's a reminder that the greatest, deepest laughter doesn't come at the expense of some other guy, but from the glints of self-recognition we get when the screen becomes our mirror. Read Full Review » -
80
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80
Variety
Generates enough inspired lunacy to sail past the arid stretches and provide a welcome splash of breezy, at times jaw-droppingly bizarre summer fun. Read Full Review » -
80
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75
New York Daily News
It takes a while to get used to the film's campy characters and its broad, "Ace Ventura" stylings. But Ferrell is the anti-Jim Carrey -- his deadpan comic mannerisms are infectiously funny, and his cluelessly narcissistic Burgundy is a joy to follow. Read Full Review » -
75
USA Today
That he can make his anchorman chauvinistic, deluded and ridiculous but still manage to give him some humanity is testimony to Ferrell's comic talents. Read Full Review » -
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
An engagingly knuckleheaded comic vehicle for former Saturday Night Live trouper Will Ferrell. Read Full Review » -
75
ReelViews
It's hard to say whether Anchorman is the funniest movie of the year - it has enough offbeat and gut-busting moments to make it worth consideration in that category. Read Full Review » -
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Most of the time, though, Anchorman works, and a lot of the time it's very funny. Read Full Review » -
75
Premiere
Anchorman is the kind of wonderful, cotton-candy escapism that should leave you with the right kind of stomachache. Read Full Review » -
75
Rolling Stone
There's no sense to the scene in which the boys get together for a close-harmony rendition of "Afternoon Delight" -- just pure pleasure. Read Full Review » -
70
Film Threat
Burgundy and Carell's Brick Tamland, by himself, would be worth the price of admission. Read Full Review » -
70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
In McKay, Ferrell has found an unusually simpatico collaborator for the type of humor that's made him a comedy force: outsized, unexpectedly sweet, and unrelenting. Read Full Review » -
70
Dallas Observer
At its best it plays like modern-day Marx Brothers in which every single thing that happens makes no sense and serves no purpose and nothing happens for any reason at all. It exists solely to get a laugh, not to make a point. Read Full Review » -
70
The Hollywood Reporter
Does make you laugh even if you hate yourself for doing so. A creation of former "Saturday Night Live" colleagues, the comedy plays like an extended skit with bits of improvisation and several slightly extended sequences. Read Full Review » -
67
Austin Chronicle
What we get is more of the same from Ferrell – funny faces, goofy accents, pratfalls aplenty – and that ain't bad. It just could have been a lot better. Read Full Review » -
63
Chicago Tribune
The movie may lack a lot of things, but it doesn't lack comic timing--or, in its own way, a nose for the news. Read Full Review » -
63
Boston Globe
Sloppy, crude, pursuing the most far-flung tangents in hopes of a laugh, Anchorman still gave me more stupid giggles than I'd care to admit. Read Full Review » -
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Will Ferrell is a scream, no doubt about it. And Anchorman contains some of his best work. But, Knights of Columbus! Wouldn't it be great if TV-based comedians weren't afraid of making movies that were funnier than they are? Read Full Review » -
60
Salon.com
It has a pleasing, noodly elasticity about it -- the picture knows what its limits are and proceeds to boogie unself-consciously far outside them. Read Full Review » -
60
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60
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60
The New York Times
More amusing than annoying. It is not as maniacally uninhibited as "Old School" or as dementedly lovable as "Elf," but its cheerful dumbness is hard to resist. Read Full Review » -
58
Entertainment Weekly
The movie is funny when it's nasty, as when Ron and Veronica trade insults at the anchor desk. Most of the time, though, it's not nasty enough. Read Full Review » -
50
Village Voice
As parody, it's toothless and often smug, but as random Ferrellspeak generator, it has its delights. Read Full Review » -
50
Miami Herald
A lazy, self-satisfied piece of work -- a comedy made by people who think so highly of themselves, they assume they'll get a laugh just by showing up in front of the camera. Read Full Review » -
50
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50
Charlotte Observer
I can't help but feel that a funny movie was waiting to be unearthed amid all this self-congratulation and juvenile prankishness. Read Full Review » -
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Feels like an extended skit stretched and stretched, maybe not to the breaking point, but to the sagging point. Read Full Review » -
50
Wall Street Journal
The sweet spirit that made last year's "Elf" such a success has curdled considerably. Read Full Review » -
42
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Ferrell, of course, has his moments. But he doesn't have an engaging "center" as a comedian. Read Full Review » -
40
LA Weekly
Anchorman has one amusing character, a dumb weatherman played by Steve Carell, and a nicely observed set piece about what newscasters really say to one another when they're shuffling papers between segments. Otherwise it's a long string of heavy-footed sight and sound gags. Read Full Review » -
25
Christian Science Monitor
Imagine a movie where every character is more self-centered than Ted Baxter in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" of old, add a caboodle of idiotic jokes, and you have some idea of this ugly, unfunny farce. Read Full Review » -
25
Portland Oregonian
Their collective timing is so off that the dead space around their endless bits is like that more commonly experienced during a job interview gone wrong. Read Full Review »
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