Zoolander

Derek Zoolander is stupid. So is his movie. But by no means, is Zoolander humorless. Directed by and starring Ben Stiller, Zoolander is a very funny movie, if you know what to expect. Based on a character that Stiller created for the 1996 VH1 Fashion Awards, Derek Zoolander was originally intended to satirize the fashion industry. The movie does no less and as a result, has received some very negative patron reviews. Audiences went into Zoolander expecting another Ben Stiller, Meet the Parents-type comedy, and when they got an offbeat movie about the fashion industry's plot to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia, they didn't know how to react. To enjoy Zoolander, one has to forget all expectations and see the movie for what it is supposed to be: ridiculous.

Derek Zoolander (Stiller) is the fashion industry's number one male model, but his career is slouching and boy beauty Hansel (Owen Wilson) provides tough competition. Fashion designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell) takes advantage of this and Zoolander's stupidity, and brainwashes him to kill the Malaysian prime minister, after he put an end to vital fashion industry sweatshops. The talented cast and an excellent soundtrack add absurdity to the already farcical plot. Zoolander gives both Ferrell and Wilson the opportunity to do what they do best. For Saturday Night Live's Ferrell that is embracing and developing the demented, while for Meet the Parents' Wilson, it is the chance to play a comedic, confident, character role. Stiller's father and wife also appear in supporting roles, with Jerry Stiller as Maury Ballstein, Derek's agent, and Christine Taylor as Matilda Jeffries, a TIME magazine reporter. Jerry Stiller, like Wilson, always manages to find humor in every role he plays, and in Zoolander this remains especially true. Taylor, being a veteran of the Brady Bunch movies, is not stranger to satire either. Well-chosen and placed music adds laughs and heightens the tone and feel of the movie. With songs ranging from Wham!'s `Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' playing as cruising music for Derek and his male model friends, and Michael Jackson's `Beat It' as the background music for a face-off between Derek and Hansel, any remaining seriousness is diminished. And yet even more surprise and absurdity is added by the many unexpected cast members and cameo appearances. Others appearing in Zoolander include David Duchovny, Jon Voight, Vince Vaughn, Andy Dick, David Bowie, Cuba Gooding Jr., Winona Ryder, and even Ralph Lauren's own male model, Tyson Beckford. I can understand people disliking this movie; it is temperamental. This is the kind of movie that varies depending on the audience and a person's expectation. Generally though, if you keep an open mind and realize that it is not meant to be serious in any way, your view of the movie shouldn't go anywhere but up. Zoolander is absurd, ridiculous, and overall, an incredibly stupid movie. I suggest you see it.

A hilarious, ridiculous comedy that does a great job of poking fun at celebrity. Ben Stiller seems to think that fame is rather silly and he shows his contempt for it in the form of male super-model Derek Zoolander. The intellect-challenged, self-absorbed Zoolander pouts, struts and mispronounces wonderfully throughout this comedy that's aimed at being stupid.

The "plot-line" begins when Derek is targeted by a clandestine fashion alliance in need of a dim-witted, male super-model. Fitting the bill to a tee, Derek is brainwashed via a Clockwork-Orange-esque treatment that orders him to kill the visiting Prime Minister of Malaysia, whose progressive take on child-labour laws and sweatshops has become a serious thorn in the side of the fashion cartel. Whenever Derek hears "Relax" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, that's his trigger to kill the Prime Minister.

Some movies try so hard at being ridiculous that it actually kills its comedic value (see "Scary Movie" and "Scary Movie 2"). It's quite a feat to maintain a balance, which Zoolander accomplishes.

You'll either love or hate this movie. If you like silly, you'll like Zoolander. Also, I found that this movie gets better with age, so don't be so quick to cast it aside.

Released a few short weeks after Sept. 11, Zoolander became the target of "this is why they hate us" diatribes. I didn't see it until months later and immediately recognized what I can only hope I would have seen if I had watched it earlier--that this is a superb satire/farce. There aren't many movies that manage to be both silly and smart at the same time, and this is one. It is not only a send-up of the modeling and fashion industries, admittedly easy targets, but of our whole image-obsessed culture which commodifies love, spirituality, patriotism, heroism just as easily and unthinkingly as it does kitchen appliances. This is not a "stupid" movie, even though it is about stupid people and stupid situations. It keeps the targets of its satire within its sights at every moment, never letting that focus flag to pursue maudlin subplots, but at the same time, it is unfailingly hilarious, with marvelous comic acting, sight-gags, sets, and costumes. The screen is just packed with visual jokes at almost every moment. This is not a movie that anyone needs to be embarrassed to watch or enjoy. But it is also just plain damned fun!

Only a 6.5 for one of the best comedies ever!? Come on that's ridiculous. To this day, it still creates enormous amounts of memes. Anything that does that, you know is a classic.

"Zoolander" is stupid, but it's stupid in every way: its characters, its plot, and its jokes, but that starts adding up to fun. I will admit that I laugh most times I watch it, sometimes I groan because of the stupidity, but I usually have a smile on my face.

The plot? Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) is a washed-up model who has been brainwashed to kill a foreign Prime Minister. Sound stupid? That's because it's supposed to be. We have a handful of male models, all of them with IQs lower than their body fat percentage, and all of them getting into situations that they are not mentally equipped for.

You can't watch "Zoolander" for its story or its characters, you can only watch it for its inane humour. And the fact that these are men being shown off as models and not women.