Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

Anchorman has about as much plot as a five-day forecast. A sharp woman wants the anchor chair, a man with flawless hair objects, and the rest is a very funny cast riffing until someone yells cut. Some riffs go nowhere and keep going anyway. When it hits, though, it’s a gloriously dumb kind of genius. Will Ferrell plays Ron Burgundy with total confidence and zero information, a man who owns many leather-bound books and has clearly never opened one. Steve Carell’s Brick says whatever floats through his head, including a heartfelt declaration of love for a lamp. Paul Rudd’s Brian Fantana treats his cologne like a secret weapon. Christina Applegate plays the only competent adult in the newsroom and gets the fewest jokes for it, which is the movie’s real blind spot. It’s a lean 94 minutes that still sags in the middle. A 7.5 because the quotes have outlived the plot by a mile. $46.13 says you sign off your next phone call with "stay classy" and hang up before anyone can respond.

What works: Will Ferrell’s clueless confidence and Steve Carell’s Brick produce more quotable lines per minute than almost any comedy of its era.

What doesn’t: The story is paper thin, the middle drifts from riff to riff, and Christina Applegate is stuck playing the straight woman with the fewest jokes.

Who it’s for: People who quote movies more than they watch them, and anyone who has shared an office with a coworker in love with his own reflection.