Welcome! This is my official review of Zoolander - my end of the year “winner” to review...And it’s not even taken me until December this year.
Background:
This movie was originally supposed to be rated R for crude humor, but the studio filed an appeal to get the rating dropped down to a PG13 rating (which explains a lot). This movie was released in late September or early October of 2001, and it featured shots of the Twin Towers, but in the wake of 9/11, they edited the towers out of the final edit. This movie was actually banned in Malaysia due to how the country was portrayed.
Plot:
Ben Stiller plays Derek Zoolander, a hopelessly dim-witted male fashion model who decides to leave the industry to focus on humanitarian efforts. He is feeling pressure from the new talent, Hansel (played by Owen Wilson). Will Ferrell plays the villain, fashion mogul Mugato, who has a plot to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia to deregulate the fashion industry. Mugato tries to manipulate Derek to do the deed.
Opinion:
Let’s start with the good stuff. I’m not a huge fan of Ben Stiller. I like some of his movies. He did, however, give a solid performance here as did Wilson and Ferrell. The cinematography was interesting in a good way. The film was well-edited. Now let’s get to the many flaws of this movie. The assasination plot of a prime minister was a tad uncomfortable for me and I’m sure others. The low-brow humor, for the most part, is bad. There are few of their many jokes that actually hit their marks. The ending was a high-point, but by that point my mind was pretty much numb. The plot tends to be all over the place. The music is early 2000s music - a bad decade for music. I have been trying to figure out why this movie has a cult following. Maybe it’s the lead actors and their draw. I ultimately think that the appeal is the way that the beginning of the millenia was satirized that makes it endearing to many. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears because I just didn’t get it. So, unfortunately, I have to give Zoolander 1 star.
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Goodnight, and Bee Happy!™
Mr.Bee
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