Some comedy movies are tasked with walking a fine line between being a mature comedy, playing on subtle jokes that many won’t catch, or being a childish comedy, complete with fart jokes and men being hit in the groin.

Adam McKay’s Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues successfully walks this line, by appealing to the child in us all, without belittling the audience into thinking that we’re watching a children’s movie. The characters have exaggerated personalities, but in ways that are beloved by fans of the franchise.

The second movie in the Anchorman series picks up nearly 10 years after the first movie leaves off. At the beginning of the movie, charismatic anchorman Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) loses his job as a network anchor and soon after loses his wife in a hilarious scene that will leave people laughing long after the movie is over. Burgundy then becomes a washed-up newsman who picks up a job at SeaWorld. He is then approached by a representative from a new 24-hour news network, the first of its kind. Burgundy and his news team are offered jobs at the network, where they quickly find a rival news team, and inadvertently reinvent the concept of television news.

Anchorman 2 tackles the difficult task of humor revolving around race, that its predecessor didn’t attempt. This situation arise from Ron Burgundy’s new boss, who is black, and soon becomes his love interest. Some people may find some of the lines offensive, but for the most part the jokes are kept light-hearted, and are never mean-spirited.

In general, the movie lives up to the hype that has been surrounding it for months, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a good wintertime laugh.

4 out of 4 stars