The Apatow camp has a formula that works.
First, cast a bunch of accomplished improv comics. Dress than up and point cameras at them. Make them do a million takes. Edit those takes down to 90 minutes, discovering the structure of your movie as you go.
Some of the jokes will fall flat. Lots, actually. So you make sure that there are so many gags per minute that people don’t have time to dwell on the misses.
If you’ve cast well, lots of the choices will work, and a few will go right over the Green Monster and through a windshield. No one will remember that the skits don’t add up to a story until long after they’ve wiped the tears of laughter from their eyes and driven home.
‘Anchorman 2’ is everything its predecessor was, but turned up to 11. Funnier, dumber, louder, more surreal. Maybe it gets a little too ‘Tim and Eric’ in the last 15 minutes, but I laughed a lot. If you liked ‘Anchorman’,