Will Ferrell needs no introduction … but here’s one anyway. Making his mark on Saturday Night Live as one of the most popular players ever on the show, his string of truly funny characters and a willingness to do just about anything to get a laugh got him all the right kind of attention. From his on-the-nose impressions of George Bush and Harry Caray to his memorable SNL defining moment with a cowbell, he made late night comedy funny again. His transition to film was a bit slow though, piling up a number of small offbeat characters in a movies from Drowning Mona to Austin Powers … though his co-starring role with fellow SNL player Chris Kattan in the cult favorite A Night at the Roxbury made some waves. And while he had a few cool turns in a few other movies (Zoolander, for instance) it would be five more years until he decided Hollywood was his to conquer. Starting with Frank …
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OLD SCHOOL
OLD SCHOOLWe all want to stay young, and men often long for the college days of all-night parties, drinking until you can’t stand up and girls, girls, girls. So it is as the plot to director Todd Phillips‘ 2003 Old School takes that and gives it a spin with three grown friends (Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Ferrell) who find themselves turning a house into a frat and having the chance to relive some of the classic good times of their youth. Ferrell is Frank ‘The Tank’, a good guy with a reckless history who reverts back to his wild ways in a movie-stealing part that catapulted him to the top of everyone’s water cooler conversation. The bit with tranq gun and his late night streaking and his funnel shot and well, all of it. It’s just plain funny and had everyone wanting more. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long. Christmas was right around the corner.
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ELF
ELFThere are few Holiday films that really ‘make it’ to become traditional family movies that must be seen every year, with mostly the old classics and a few unconventional titles (Home Alone and Die Hard) topping the lists. However, in 2003, then mostly unknown director Jon Favreau gave us this little seasonal gift. Elf stars Ferrell as a human who grew up in the North Pole as one of Santa’s elves, though never knowing he wasn’t really one of them (though the clues were there). One day, when he does learn where his real father lives, he sets out to New York City to reconnect. Comedy magic follows. Ferrell in green tights and earnestly giving the innocent character some heart is endlessly fun to watch and instantly made him an international star bigger than he already was becoming. It also made Elf a Christmas movie for all the ages. But Ferrell was just getting started and his ‘legend’ was only one movie away …
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ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY
ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDYThe next year, Ferrell was in the lead again as Ron Burgundy, a 70s local news anchor who is about to have his whole world flipped upside down when the station hires gasp a woman (Christina Applegate) to be his co-host. Some films just strike at the right time and come combined with great talent in front of and behind the camera, and director Adam McKay‘s 2004’s Anchorman is one of the most endearing. With a catalogue of repeatable quotes and a cast of some really funny characters, Ferrell serves as the ringleader in a circus of hilarity that remains one of the best comedies of all time. Ferrell is at the very top of his game here, Burgundy easily the best thing he’s ever one making hims, well, kind of a big deal. He was at the top after 3 in a row.