David Koechner

Comedies don't get much more pitch-black than this fiendishly clever film, which will shift into horror for everyone in the audience, although that tipping point varies for each person. In other words, this movie will feel intensely personal for everyone who watches it. And credit must go to the cast, director and writers for making a film that, while unnerving you to the core, teaches you something about yourself in the process.

It centres on Craig (Pat Healy), who is having a seriously bad day: he's been sacked at work and evicted from his home, so before returning to his annoyed wife (Amanda Fuller) he stops for a stiff drink. At the bar he runs into his estranged friend Vince (Ethan Embry), a slacker who gets them into a conversation with Colin and Violet (David Koechner and Sara Paxton), a wealthy couple that's celebrating Violet's birthday by daring strangers to do things for money. In need of cash, both Craig and Vince volunteer, and the initially harmless tasks quickly become dangerous, sparking competition between them. And yet they play on. The question is how far they're willing to go.

Writers Trent Haaga and David Chirchirillo have conceived these challenges as a sliding scale from benign fun to nasty embarrassment to disturbing transgression and finally a full-on nightmare. Because of the way viewers react, this is definitely a film to watch in a crowded cinema, as it's clear which point on this scale is each person's limit: the laughter changes to nervous silence and ultimately gasps of horror. The fact that the movie sparks such a visceral reaction is indicative of its genius. You can't be complacent; you're right in here to the bitter end.

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It's been nearly 10 years since we first met Ron Burgundy, and this sequel is just as random and silly as expected. It's also more like a series of referential gags than an actual movie comedy, and as with the original film the best bits are knowing jabs at absurdities of the news media. This time we're in the 1980s, so there's plenty to make fun of here.

Over the past decade, Ron (Ferrell) has married Veronica (Applegate), and they've taken a joint anchor job in New York, where they live with their son (Nelson). But when Veronica lands a coveted network news job, Ron has a meltdown. Drunk and unemployed, he's approached to work on a new station: a 24-hour cable news channel. Even though he's sure this crazy idea will never catch on, Ron re-assembles his old team (swaggering reporter Rudd, dazed weatherman Carell and goofy sports guy Koechner) to beat handsome anchor Jack Lime (Marsden) in the ratings. And Ron's offbeat, populist approach changes the news forever.

This comical exploration of how TV news has shifted from hard reporting to shameless audience pandering gives the film a whiff of depth, which helps make the comical moments a lot funnier. The screenplay is a series of sketch-comedy episodes that don't quite hang together. For example, you could delete an extended sequence in which Ron goes blind, nurses a shark to health and sings a big musical number, and the movie wouldn't change at all. But all of these sequences have an absurd genius behind them that often gets us laughing, sometimes in disbelief.

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