I’m embarrassed to laugh at Anchorman, but I can’t help it. Anchorman is a non-stop silliness from beginning to end. Anchorman is so silly its silliness actually becomes rather impressive. The humor here is constantly non-sequitur, and as unexpected as possible.

We’ve come to expect such silliness from the SNL crowd, but where nonsensical SNL skits are often unfunny, they often succeed in Anchorman. The silliness begins and end with Will Ferrell, who plays the lead anchorman, Ron Burgundy, in a small local network affiliate. Ron Burgundy is stupid, head strong, male-chauvinist and ego-centric – and all of the above to the extremes.

His laid back world suddenly becomes difficult when Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) joins the team as a smart, ambitious news reporter. He falls for her, of course, but she proves just as dangerous as competition for his own job as lead anchor.

Nothing is every really connected in Anchorman. The scene sequence is just as random as the jokes themselves. It often feels like a disjointed series of SNLish scenes and gags, each even more absurd than the last. One scene consists of a multi-gang fight in a back lot wherein each gang consists of a different local news team. The other news-teams are led by Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller – and Tim Robbins. Robbins seems to be doing all he can to keep from smiling in such a silly role. And it’s all we can do to keep from smiling in almost every scene.