Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy

In the dumb ass tradition of the Farrelly brothers and all things Stiller, Anchorman fulfills its purpose and celebrates the demise of well-crafted comedy, slipping neatly into the category of toilet farce. Will Ferrell, the Elf man and Saturday Night Live old boy, remains, for the most part, unwatchable.

Ron Burgundy (Elf) anchors the most popular TV channel in San Diego, which headlines pregnant pandas and cat shows. His news team consists of a mentally retarded weather person, a closet Texan and a serial womaniser. Naturally, they behave like cretins.

When an ambitious blonde, by the name of Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), joins their ranks, sexist insults fly. Ron is used to sleeping with his dog. Now he's sleeping with Veronica. She's after his anchorage, of course, and he's too infatuated with his own importance to notice.

This is what used to be known in the sixth form lavs as bike shed humour - infantile male gags about the female anatomy, genitalia, show-off swaggering and sexual innuendos, so broad they flatten subtlety and boil boob gags until they pop.

A host of star buddies, from Jack Black, Vince Vaughn, Luke Wilson, Tim Robbins and Ben Stiller, do violent silly things and go away again. It starts feeling like one of those frat parties that no one really enjoys, but keep talking about afterwards.

Applegate does well to stay upright with so much testosterone flying. As a smart cookie, who understands the rules of the game and how to break them, Veronica has no trouble walking over the boys. That should be funny, but it's not, because a nude go-go dancer with a tea towel could have slapped these babies into line.