Although he’s been let down by recent disappointments like Get Hard, Zoolander 2, and the particularly egregious Holmes & Watson, Will Ferrell remains one of the most beloved comedy movie stars in the world. Whether he’s playing a lead role like Chazz Michael Michaels in Blades of Glory or making a cameo appearance like Chazz Reinhold in Wedding Crashers, Ferrell never fails to raise a few chuckles or create a string of memorable moments.
Arguably the actor’s most iconic role is Ron Burgundy from the Anchorman movies that he wrote with director Adam McKay, but there are plenty of alternatives to choose from.
10 Ron Is The Best: There’s No Limit To The Absurdity
Ferrell’s comic persona works best when he has no restrictions. With the role of Ron Burgundy, there’s no limit to the absurdity. There’s nothing Ron could say that the audience would think was too weird for him to say, or nothing he could do that the audience wouldn’t buy.
In addition to writing great dialogue and situational humor for the character with his co-writer Adam McKay, Ferrell was let off the leash in terms of improv on the set, too.
9 Alternative: Detective Allen Gamble (The Other Guys)
In the opening scenes of The Other Guys, Detective Allen Gamble is introduced as a mild-mannered police accountant who enjoys the Little River Band and doesn’t realize how gorgeous his wife is. But halfway through the movie, it’s revealed that he was a pimp known as “Gator” in his college days.
While the Daddy’s Home movies have gotten a lot of mileage out of Ferrell’s chemistry with Mark Wahlberg, The Other Guys remains the duo’s greatest on-screen pairing.
8 Ron Is The Best: He’s A Spot-On Lampoon Of ‘70s TV Journalists
Almost every Will Ferrell character is a satirical portrait, from his satirical portrait of a NASCAR driver in Talladega Nights to his satirical portrait of a fashion magnate in Zoolander. Ron Burgundy is a pitch-perfect satire of TV journalists of the 1970s.
Ferrell’s performance drew inspiration from one specific journalist, Mort Crim. Specifically, Ferrell imitated from Crim’s speaking voice — and nailed it.
7 Alternative: Jacobim Mugatu (Zoolander)
Although the belated sequel added nothing new to the character (and was actually so bad that it kind of detracted from the greatness of the original), Will Ferrell gave one of his funniest turns as evil fashion mogul Mugatu in Ben Stiller’s Zoolander.
Ferrell’s deadpan delivery of Mugatu’s absurdist dialogue, like “That Hansel is so hot right now,” juxtaposes hilariously with his flamboyant behavior.
6 Ron Is The Best: Ferrell Shared Impeccable Chemistry With The Whole Cast
Will Ferrell has shared terrific chemistry with a lot of his co-stars, from Step Brothers’ John C. Reilly to The Other Guys’ Mark Wahlberg to Blades of Glory’s Jon Heder, but he’s never had better chemistry with an entire cast than in Anchorman.
His pairing with Christina Applegate works wonders both when Ron and Veronica are in love and when they’re sniping at each other, while his dynamic with the rest of the news team — Paul Rudd, David Koechner, and Steve Carell — is unparalleled. Even actors in minor roles, like Fred Willard and Chris Parnell, have a fun repartee with Ferrell.
5 Alternative: Brennan Huff (Step Brothers)
Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s chemistry reached its peak in Step Brothers, the story of two middle-aged men who never left home and have to learn to live together when their beleaguered single parents get married.
Brennan Huff is one of Ferrell’s best characters because it makes use of both his abilities as a straight man (“Are you saying ‘pow’?”) and as the crazy one yelling nonsense at the straight man (“You keep your liver-spotted hands off my beautiful mother!”).
4 Ron Is The Best: He Has All Of Ferrell’s Most Quotable Lines
Plenty of Will Ferrell’s characters have quotable lines, from Chazz Reinhold’s “Ma, the meatloaf, f**k!!” to Brennan Huff’s “Robert better not get in my face, ‘cause I’ll drop that motherf**ker,” but easily the actor’s highest quotient of memorable dialogue comes from Ron Burgundy.
His quotable lines are endless: “You stay classy, San Diego,” “Milk was a bad choice,” “Well, that escalated quickly,” “I’m in a glass case of emotion!” – the list goes on.
3 Alternative: Buddy (Elf)
The Christmas movie market is flooded with generic factory-line “festive” movies every yuletide season, so the best ones — Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Die Hard etc. — really stand out. Jon Favreau’s Elf is a prime example of that, and at least 80% of its charm can be attributed to Will Ferrell’s bubbly lead performance.
The fish-out-of-water story of a grown man who thinks he’s one of Santa’s elves leaving the North Pole to find his biological family in New York wouldn’t have worked nearly as well without Ferrell’s steadfast commitment to each bit.
2 Ron Is The Best: There’s Humanity Buried In His Ridiculousness
It’s a testament to the immense comic talents of Will Ferrell that he managed to bury a real humanity in a character as ridiculous as Ron Burgundy. When he’s breaking down in the phone booth after Baxter’s apparent death, it’s ludicrous, but Ron’s pain feels genuine.
Under thick layers of newsman confidence and ‘70s-era chauvinism lies a broken, insecure man in desperate need of love and attention, and that’s what makes him lovable despite his obvious flaws.
1 Alternative: Ricky Bobby (Talladega Nights)
After finishing Anchorman, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay went to a NASCAR race and something clicked. They decided what their next project would be: a comedy about a NASCAR driver. That germ of an idea blossomed into Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
Ricky is somehow even more oblivious than Ron Burgundy. Whether he’s losing his wife to his best friend, thanking corporate sponsors in a prayer, or stabbing himself in the leg to prove his psychosomatic disability is real, Ricky Bobby is always hilarious.
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