Zoolander Review
by Aleksandar Zambelli (zambelli AT posluh DOT hr)October 25th, 2001
Movie Review:
"Zoolander"
Copyright (c) 2001 Aleksandar Zambelli
Originally published in The Crimson, a Florida Tech student publication.
Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell
Genre: comedy
Stupidity has always been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for comedy writers and movie producers. Thousands, maybe even millions of movies made to this date have, in one way or another, been influenced by the wonderful phenomenon of human stupidity. It started in the 1920s with Laurel and Hardy, continued through the entire century with legendary characters such as Bill and Ted, Beavis and Butthead, and Lloyd and Harry ("Dumb and Dumber"). Besides the fact that most of these characters always appeared in pairs, another undeniable truth is that most people have always had a "love or hate" relationship with these characters. You either loved their zany antics until your eyes bled and your lungs ripped, or you hated their guts with all your might. When it comes to Ben Stiller's newest creation, "Zoolander," I have to admit that I belong in the latter category.
In "Zoolander" Ben Stiller plays Derek Zoolander, a moronic male fashion model who unknowingly becomes an evil fashion designer's killing machine. Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell) brainwashes Zoolander into becoming a walking time-bomb with a mission to kill the Malaysian prime minister. Apparently, the new Malaysian prime minister is rather determined to put an end to child labor in the multitude of his country's sweat shops, which understandably irritates the evil fashion designers whose clothes are being primarily made by children of the Third World. However, Zoolander is not completely lost - news reporter Matilda Jeffries (Christine Tayold) and Zoolander's greatest male model rival Hansel (Owen Wilson) are onto Mugatu's diabolic plan and are ready to save Zoolander from sure trouble.
Ben Stiller made his directorial debut in 1994 with "Reality Bites," an amusing (but pretentious) little film about Generation X'ers. In 1996 he followed it up with "Cable Guy", starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick - a movie that will only be remembered as the first movie that showed us the "other" side of Jim Carrey. "Zoolander", which he co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in, is actually based on a 1996 short he did for VH-1's Fashion Awards. It's easy therefore to understand why a large part of his newest movie is a well done parody of the fashion industry. Why the rest of his newest movie is so sickeningly stupid, however, completely eludes me.
"Zoolander" is so exaggerated and over the top in its stupidity that it can best be described as "too stupid". What worked in "Dumb and Dumber" (largely due to Jim Carrey's and Jeff Daniels' great comedic talent), completely fails in "Zoolander." The jokes are so miserably set up that you know the punch line minutes before they even come. Ben Stiller's character is so annoying that you'll stop finding him funny (if you ever do at all) after the second or third time he opens his mouth. Owen Wilson appears again in a very underwritten role, but somehow leaves us thinking that he might actually have more talent that he demonstrates. Will Ferrell proves, once and for all, that he's a great SNL comedian, but a terrible movie actor. Although I love Ferrell's work on SNL, I can't help noticing that every single movie appearance he has made in his career has been a complete disaster. Note to Will: excellent sprinters don't always make good marathon runners.
While by far unworthy of your night at the movies, "Zoolander" does offer a few good moments. Notable is the VH-1 Fashion Awards spoof at the very beginning of the movie, that features more than a dozen impressive cameos, a hilarious Hansel documentary (Owen Wilson at his best) and a hysterical cameo by Fabio (as he receives the VH-1 Award for Best Actor / Model). Later in the movie, the story takes a quite unexpected turn as a bizarre orgy breaks out at Hansel's house and gangs of Finnish midgets and other weird characters join in on the fun. Also, watch out for David Bowie's cameo. Another interesting trivia fact: responding quickly to the September 11th tragedy, the producers of "Zoolander" digitally erased the World Trade Center from the New York skyline, so that the audiences would not be reminded of a tragedy while they're watching a comedy. Too bad it won't save their movie from the critics though.
Do yourself a favor this week. Don't see "Zoolander," but watch "Dumb and Dumber" on TNT instead - perhaps you won't walk away feeling so ripped off.
Score: 2/10
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E-Mail: zambelli@posluh.hr
WWW: http://www.fit.edu/~azambell
ICQ UIN: 7003861
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