Though I was a college student, one of the movie’s targeted demographics, I never saw “Anchorman” when it was out in theaters and I don’t recall any of my friends seeing it either. There was little indication the movie’s lifespan in the collective American conscience would last more than a few weeks – basically until the next Ferrell or Vince Vaughn or Ben Stiller movie came along and replaced it.

    

But something strange happened. Unlike Ferrell’s “Blades of Glory” or ”Semi-Pro,” “Anchorman” seemed to find a new life on DVD and cable TV over the years and its stature grew to the point where many consider it to be one of the more memorable comedies of the decade.

     

It’s endlessly-quotable, ridiculous dialogue (“I don’t know how to put this, but I’m kind of a big deal,” “Sixty percent of the time, it works every time,” etc.) have become popular party lines.  The UK’s “Times Online” recently ranked “Anchorman” number 62 on its “100 Best Movies of the Decade” list – right in between “There Will Be Blood” and “Spirited Away.”

    

Regardless of your opinion on “Anchorman,” this anecdote illustrates that sometimes the movies that end up being the “decade-defining” films are the ones that open to little aplomb, while many “important” films that open to critical acclaim and Academy Awards are forgotten over the years.

    

With 2009 winding down, many websites and publications are listing their picks for best movies of the decade. “Best” by definition is a subjective term, so there never is going to be a cut-and-dried method for determining the top movies of a decade.

    

Nevertheless, perhaps the optimal way to determine a film’s worth is to see how it fares against the test of time. Namely, is the movie just as good 10 or 20 years down the road - and just as important, but often overlooked - does anyone bother to watch it a decade or two after its release?

    

    

Attaining cult status doesn’t mean “Fight Club” is automatically one of the best movies of the 1990s, but it is on a short list of films released that decade that have continued to make a cultural impact in the years following.

 

Looking to the modern relevance of past decades’ films is a good way of predicting which movies from the 00’s will define the decade in future years. Films such as “Gladiator,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Crash,” “Chicago,” “The Departed” and “Slumdog Millionaire” have all won “Best Picture” Oscars this decade. But it’s unlikely all of them will continue to have relevance to future generations. A couple of them barely have relevance now and the decade isn’t even officially over yet.

    

It’s likely some of this decade’s less mainstream, quirkier films will age just as well if not better than these Oscar winners – movies such as “Sideways,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Requiem for a Dream,” and “Memento,” among others.

    

A movie doesn’t have to be a cult classic to mark its territory in cinematic history. Mainstream fare like “The Dark Knight,” “Casino Royale,” “Inglorious Bastards” and “The Lord of the Rings” and “Bourne” franchises were all well-made films this decade that were big box-office hits for a reason.

    

In all honesty, a few of the Will Ferrell/Vince Vaughn/Ben Stiller-led comedies that were all the rage five or six years ago still make me laugh when I catch them on cable. Which brings me back to “Anchorman.” No one would cite its cinematography as award-caliber or the supporting work of Paul Rudd as action news reporter Brian Fantana as a “tour-de-force” acting performance.