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Zoolander Customer Reviews (19 - 21 of 38 Reviews)

Hilarious in parts, though perhaps a bit overstretched
I usually love to read the reviews of film critic Roger Ebert (of the Chicago Sun-Times of course), but his one-star review of ZOOLANDER is probably the silliest, least perceptive review of his I've read. From what I understand, he pretty much condemned the whole movie (despite humorous aspects that he at least recognized) based upon one small detail: the fact that the filmmakers made one of its characters the prime minister of Malaysia. He apparently found the fact that they actually named a real-life country "offensive," and even said that this movie---or at least, that one detail---is proof of why a lot of foreign countries seem to hate us so much. Okay, in the context of his review he isn't totally without merit, but still, isn't that going a little too far, Mr. Ebert? (I could almost give him a pass on this rather trivial criticism b/c this movie was indeed released soon after 9/11 drastically shook up our country---but giving this funny movie only one measly star on the basis of that one tiny detail is kinda rash.)

Here is the real lowdown on ZOOLANDER: this movie is very funny, sometimes hilariously so. It's a silly comedy that still has a palpable intelligence underneath the surface stupidity. The idea, though---which originated as a sketch created for the 1996 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards by writers Ben Stiller and Drake Sather---might not have been enough to sustain even an 89-minute film. ZOOLANDER makes its satirical points hilariously early on, but kinda runs out of steam towards the end---at the very least, I wasn't laughing quite as hard towards the end as I was for the first half of the movie. Still, its funny bits are so funny that this film is on its way to becoming a popular new classic...and the fact that a lot of people I know seem to love quoting from this movie is proof of that. (My personal favorite bit: the model building that our lamebrained hero condemns as a "center for ants.")

In short, ZOOLANDER is hardly a great movie, but on its own terms it works very well. And no, I have not heard one complaint from those who have seen the movie about the Malaysia detail. It's so small and insignificant (and hardly emphasized by the filmmakers) that I'm surprised Mr. Ebert picked up on it at all, much less was bothered enough by it to spend nearly a whole review discussing it.

Hilarious movie about supermodel assassins
This movie is great, but be warned. It's not high-brow comedy. It's not filled with intelligent dialogue or real people with real lives. Instead, this movie pokes a great deal of fun at the fashion model industry, and doesn't attempt to answer any deep questions or leave you with a better appreciation of life. What it does do is make you laugh. Ben Stiller is one of the funniest comics working today, and this movie shows just how funny he can be. I've heard that Ben had come up with a new face, which was his parody of the faces used by supermodels in magazine ads. His wife (Christine Taylor, who plays the reporter following Derek Zoolander around in the movie) told him to either do something with the face, or quit making the face. Thus, Zoolander came about.

In this movie, every political assassination in the past 100 years has been perpetuated by supermodels (because they're so vacuous and empty-brained and are easily hyp-mo-tized). Zoolander plays an aging male model who loses the title of Male Model of the Year to his rival played by Owen Wilson. The evil fashion designer Mugatu (played by Will Ferrell) hypnotizes Zoolander into killing a foreign prime minister that's interfering with his business. There are hilarious performances in this movie by Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, Jerry Stiller (Ben Stiller's real-life dad), and of course Ben Stiller himself.

After seeing this movie, you'll never look at one of the faces put on by a supermodel the same way again. And you'll have a very hard time looking through magazines with a straight face.

One final thing...look for a great cameo by David Duchovny as one of the world's greatest hand models, who now is working to uncover the global conspiracy of assassinations by supermodels. Sound familiar? It's great.

Enjoy this movie. It's hard not to. But don't expect 'Ghandi' or 'My Dinner with Andre'. This movie does everything it can to be as irreverent and as silly as possible. And it definitely succeeds.

Funniest movie of the year. Hilarious!
I'm usually not the type to laugh out-loud in a theater, but this movie made me do just that. Ben Stiller is very funny, or maybe just the writing was funny. Either way, you'll get a kick out of it. It's got some pretty out-of-nowhere jokes that really work ' breakdance fighting, the 'walk-off', and the 'Derek Zoolander Center for Kids who Don't Read Good and Want to Do Other Stuff Good Also'. The commercials did give away some of the good jokes (like those I just mentioned), but unlike a lot of movie's I've seen, there are plenty left to merit going to see.

Will Ferrell plays the fashion mogul Mugatu ' a great character who's hair sometime out-performs his acting. Owen Wilson is Hansel, Zoolander's competition for Male Model of the Year. I liked him in Meet the Parents and thought he was just as good in this. David Duchovny makes an appearance, but it's just what they show in the commercials. There are cameo appearances by a few other celebrities including Fabio and Lenny Kravitz.

Well worth the night out.

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