Film reviews: Anchorman 2 | Seduced and Abandoned

What’s in your fridge could kill you… more on that story at 11, 
but the breaking news this hour is the return of Ron Burgundy.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (15)

Star rating: * * *

And with the 1970s behind him, San Diego’s top-rated narcissistic newscaster (Will Ferrell) has now arrived in the 1980s at America’s first 24-hour news station.

Also bedding in at GNN are his redneck pal Champ Kind (David Koechner), consumer reporter Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) and their weather guy Brick Tamland (Steve Carell). Brick gets to display a little more range this time – Carell shares a romantic subplot with Kristen Wiig – and the BBC gets a namecheck
 thanks to Sacha Baron Cohen, but the newsroom still belongs to Ferrell’s cluelessly gaffe-prone anchorman.

Like all Judd Apatow comedies, the movie could do with ruthless pruning, but the top story is that Ferrell’s fearless energy keeps things going, even if the skits are a little hit and miss.

On general release from Wednesday

Seduced And Abandoned (15)

Star rating: * * *

Actor Alec Baldwin and director James Toback go to Cannes during the 2012 film festival to see if they can persuade anyone to fund an unlikely political sex drama they call Last Tango In Tikrit. The result is a larky documentary where they pitch to Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain and The Artist’s Bérénice Bejo, and get players such as Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski and Bernardo Bertolucci to reflect on whether the only things backers care about are attention-grabbing big names and sales to foreign markets.

You might reflect on the irony that star wattage is probably the main reason this rambling feature got a theatrical release in the UK, but the knockabout insights – who knew Gosling could be funny about the choice between steak or death? – make for seductive viewing.

Filmhouse, Edinburgh, tomorrow until Wednesday