We have some sad, tragic news to report today: Will Ferrell's newsman parody, Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, isn't very good.

It's one of those movies where every good joke is in the trailer, which was a hilarious two-minute spot that promised so much more than this sloppy, lazy effort manages to deliver.

Anchorman is set in the 1970s and the advent of women's rights. It follows the misadventures of macho chauvinist newsman Ron Burgundy (Ferrell) and his news team of equally buffoonish sexist pigs, including Champ Kind (David Koechner), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell).

Their world goes topsy-turvy when the beautiful Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) arrives at Channel 4 News with aspirations of becoming the first female anchorwoman.

This is a terrific premise that should have been far funnier than what the filmmakers actually gave us. The movie touches a bit on the wasteful '70s (the news team takes a couple bites out of their hot dogs and throw them on the streets) and lightly parodies the media (Burgundy will read anything that's typed onto the teleprompter, Channel 4's top story is the imminent birth of a baby panda at the zoo).

But the movie isn't even really about the '70s, or the battle of the sexes. It's more about how stupidly its cast of zany characters act. The potentially rich time and setting just seem incidental, or worse, wasted.

Instead of aiming higher with its satire, Ferrell and his co-writer/director Adam McKay resort to the "stupid-funny" route far too often. We're talking about dumb gags that include an all-out brawl between various rival news teams that involves the dismemberment of one man, a climax that features hungry kodiak bears, Burgundy's super-intelligent dog which he dresses in pyjamas, etc. Much of the time, you get the feeling Ferrell and his poorly coiffed, badly tailored supporting cast think that just showing up on screen in a bad outfit and outrageous hair is enough to elicit laughs.

Still, Anchorman isn't without its charms.

Ferrell tries hard to make it work: The oblivious, dim-witted and plain cheesy (his nightly sign-off to viewers: "Stay classy, San Diego") Burgundy is a very funny creation.

Applegate continues to do good work rehabbing her Kelly Bundy days as the tough, no-nonsense Corningstone, while Carell steals scenes as the sub-moronic Tamland. And among the surprise guest cameos, Vince Vaughn shows up as rival newsman Wes Mantooth and is his usual charismatically sleazy self.

There are even some inspired not-in-the-trailer bits, such as when Burgundy sobs hysterically in a phone booth after the apparent death of a loved one.

But it isn't enough to save Anchorman, which is, ultimately, a good Saturday Night Live sketch stretched way too long. And that's too bad. If we want real comedy on our evening news, guess we'll just have to stick with the CBC.

(This film is rated PG)

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