Zoolander
(2001)
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1 Hour and 29 Minutes
Reviewer: Dale
Grade: B+If you would have told me, two weeks ago, that I would have a burning desire to see the film "Zoolander" I would have promptly informed you that you were on crack. Yet, as the days grew closer, I found a strange thing happening. Suddenly, I needed a braindead comedy. Not just any braindead comedy either. No, I wanted this one.
Well, "Zoolander" supplied my fix, and then some. It's not a very bright movie. But it's not about a very bright man. It's swipes at the fashion industry are broad, yes. But they work.
And any really in-depth satire of the fashion industry would probably go sailing over our heads anyway. But it is unique and it has its own sense of style and it remembers what it's like to be wacky and relishes in its own wackiness.
"Zoolander" is, naturally, the story of Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller). Derek is a self-obsessed, self-important moron and male supermodel. He has won the VH1 model of the year award for the past three years, but this year his title is usurped by upstart looker Hansel (though Derek gets all the way up to the stage and delivers half of his speech before realizing that he is actually in error). Suddenly, his life is thrown into a tailspin. What does it all mean?
If he is not the most perfect man on Earth, where does he fit into the cosmos/ Is there really more to life than just being "really, really, ridiculously good looking"? Derek searches his soul, and is also brainwashed into a plot that involves the assassination of Malaysia's prime minister (who is about to throw a monkey into the wrench of the fashion industry by outlawing child labor). Suddenly, people are trying to kill him, he must join forces with a reporter who has recently ridiculed him (the yummy Christine Taylor) and the song "Relax" by Frankie Goes to
Hollywood takes on new, nefarious meaning.
The great thing about this film is that it keeps the laughs coming quickly. There is never more than a couple of minutes where there isn't something that draws large belly laughs. Some of this stuff is utterly hilarious. The showdown between the supermodels, for instance, left me gasping for air. The celebrity cameos (particularly those of David Bowie and David Duchovny) are also quite witty and well-placed. Another benefit of the film are the wonderfully pitched performances of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson as the dim-witted stars of the fashion world. They are perfect here, knowing effortlessly how to modulate their performances in order to inhabit and enhance the zany world around them.
Speaking of this world, the film does a remarkable job of establishing its own, silly universe with its own silly rules. In this way, I would compare it to films like "Men in Black" and the original "Austin Powers" which created a perfect microcosm completely for the purposes of their films and then filled it with wall-to-wall inventiveness. It's a lot of fun to spend two hours in this wacky universe with these morons. I had a hell of a time. It's characters are established along these rules and parameters and have their own ludicrous concerns and dilemmas that exist nicely within the absurd framework of the film.
Is it perfect? No. There are many jokes which do misfire and the film's structure is really nonexistent. But it's fun and it is an enjoyable way to spend at least an hour and a half in a theater. A lot of critics have hailed this as the perfect film to take the country off its various problems. While I won't ascribe that level of importance to it, I will say that it hit the spot. I needed a good laugh and, with "Zoolander", I got it. End of story.