Zoolander (2001)
Starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Christine Taylor, Jerry Stiller, Milla Jovovich.
Directed by Ben Stiller.
Rated PG-13.
Grade: A
"It should be at least three times this size!"
Zoolander, an exceptionally sophisticated comedy from the brilliant comic mind of Ben Stiller, is rapidly becoming one of the year's most misunderstood films. I've seen it called stupid entertainment meant to take our minds off the recent tragedy, but it's anything but stupid. Good luck finding another recent movie with a sense of humor this intelligent.
Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) has won the coveted "Best Male Model" award three years in a row. He is worshipped as a God in the fashion world. He is "almost too good-looking." His trademark look -- "Blue Steel" -- can stun a room full of women into submission, and yet it bears a strange resemblance (read: it's identical) to every other "look" in his repertoire. Rumor has it that he's spent the last decade perfecting a new look he likes to call "Magnum", which promises to stop the fashion industry dead in its tracks.
Zoolander's career is invincible, until a newfangled, renegade model named Hansel (Owen Wilson) steals his thunder and takes the award he practically owns. Confident beyond all reason, Zoolander makes a joke of himself by coming up to accept the award he didn't win, and having to be told that he wasn't the winner. He goes from being the king of the fashion industry to being the punchline of every joke.
Oh, and Zoolander is also extremely dense. So dense, in fact, that the bigshots of fashion, worried that the new Malaysian prime minister will pass damaging anti-sweatshop laws, enlist Derek to assassinate the well-intentioned ruler. Designer Mugato (Will Ferrell), currently working on "Derelicte," a line based on the clothing of the homeless, is placed in charge of brainwashing Zoolander and training him to perform the murder.
A movie this utterly warped is difficult to come by, and rewarding when you do. Every joke is immediately trumped with a better one, and even the weaker gags have more than one layer. Consider the much-publicized scene in which Mugato reveals a miniature model of "The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good." Zoolander exclaims: "What is this? A center for ants? How are kids supposed to learn how to read if they can't even fit inside the building?" Fine. But what sets this comedy so far above the rest is Zoolander's follow-up line: "It should be at least three times this size!"
The entire movie is in this vein. I won't ruin any more jokes. Ben Stiller, who aside from playing the lead, also directed and co-wrote the production, has wrapped wit and intelligence under the guise of juvenility, and a fair amount of sophistication is required to retract it. To some, Zoolander will just seem "stupid."
Ben Stiller is a brilliant comedian in any medium, and Owen Wilson is quickly emerging as one of Hollywood's most underappreciated assets. Will Ferrell, too, manages to transcend the boundaries of his sketch comedy roots in what is easily his best role to date; some of the biggest laughs are courtesy of his hilariously uninhibited Mugato.
Moisture is the essence of wetness. Wetness is the essence of beauty. Zoolander is one of the year's best films.