Review: Zoolander (2001)
Steve Rhodes
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
Making a movie that's stupid fun must be really hard since most filmmakers that
try end up with a picture that's merely stupid. Rarely are they as successful
as Ben Stiller is with ZOOLANDER, a film in which he is the director, star and
co-writer. The laughs come loud and often. And there aren't any that will
leave you embarrassed for succumbing to laughter. Both physical and verbal, the
jokes are not only silly but good-spirited as well, as the comedy pokes fun at
the male modeling profession.
In a story that redefines the meaning of shallowness to something approaching
the width of a light beam, the movie stars two dimwits, Derek Zoolander
(Stiller), three-time male model of the year, and Hansel (Owen Wilson), his new
competition. Zoolander, who got the idea of being a model during his first time
in second grade, is at the top of his form. With his famous "blue steel" look,
he's invincible. Or maybe not. Stiller, certainly is. The speech pattern
alone that he developed for the movie is worth the price of admission, and it's
hard to figure out if he is better as a director, writer or star. I suspect,
however, that he could have gotten his movie made a lot cheaper. From
production designer Robin Standefer to costumer David C. Robinson, everyone
associated with it clearly had so much fun that they probably would have worked
for nothing.
And speaking of people who were probably paid just scale, the movie has a long
series of great cameos. Watch for several when Zoolander goes briefly to work
with his family in the harsh environment of a southern New Jersey coal mine. My
favorite cameo is David Duchovny's as the world's most famous hand model. In an
X Files setting, he meets Zoolander and his companion, Matilda Jeffries
(Christine Taylor), at night in a graveyard to warn of unknown dangers.
The plot involves an evil clothing manufacturer, Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell),
who secretly turns male models into killing machines. Most of the movie,
however, concerns itself more with the life and times of male models than with
any dastardly deed. "Did you ever think that there was more to life than being
really, really, really good looking?" Zoolander asks his fellow male models in
the story's recurring, rhetorical question. He and his buddies have a music
video moment that proves too hot for them to handle, but it does get them
properly memorialized.
Among the many excellent minor characters is Milla Jovovich playing a
Natasha-like character called Katinka. There really isn't a Boris character,
but Ben's father, Jerry Stiller, does a nice job as Zoolander's boss, Maury
Ballstein. Maury heads an organization called Ball Models. The jokes come so
fast that it would probably take a couple of viewings to catch them all.
Among many superb scenes, none outdoes the "walk off." Like a couple of teens
from THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, Zoolander and Hansel go to a secret location to
face off on a runway, where they challenge each other. It's a cross between a
boxing match and a drag race. And like the rest of the movie, it's hilarious.
ZOOLANDER runs just 1:30. It is rated PG-13 for "sexual content and drug
references" and would be acceptable for kids around 12 and up.
My son Jeffrey, age 12, gave the film *** 1/2. He found it really funny and
quite creative.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 28, 2001.
In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century theaters.
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Email: Steve....@InternetReviews.com
***********************************************************************
Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email?
Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29609
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 251701
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 703
X-RT-AuthorID: 1271
X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4
Jon Popick
"We Put the SIN in Cinema"
© Copyright 2001 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved.
Filling the hole usually occupied by crappy Saturday Night Live
skits-turned-feature films, Ben Stiller's Zoolander is a comedy cut from the
same cloth as Airplane and The Naked Gun. Like those pictures, it throws a
lot of jokes at the audience, but most of them stick, which makes it better
than all of the recent SNL debacles. Zoolander, like Superstar and Ladies'
Man, was born in sketch comedy, expanding a character created by Stiller for
the 1996 and 1997 VH-1 Fashion Awards.
Stiller plays three-time Male Model of the Year Derek Zoolander, a
brain-dead pretty boy we meet as he's being interviewed for Time by a
reporter named Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor, Marcia from the Brady
film updates) just before the VH-1 Fashion Awards (the cable channel
produced the film). Matilda, intent on writing a scathing piece on the
modeling industry, gets plenty of good stuff, topped off by Derek showing
her his catalogue of different "looks" that all look the same.
Derek is up for an unprecedented fourth straight MMOY Award but loses to
red-hot newcomer Hansel (Owen Wilson, Stiller's Meet the Parents co-star),
who tools around with a yo-yo, a scooter and an entourage that seems to grow
in each scene. Crushed, Derek considers retiring, but he is talked into one
last campaign by agent Maury Ballstein (Jerry Stiller). The big Derelicte
show, it turns out, is really a ruse by an international syndicate of
fashion designers who want to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia
because he's threatening to enact laws that will do away with the cheap
child labor the designers need to make their dumb clothes. Derek is
hypnotized by a Bond-like baddie (Will Ferrell, SNL) named Jacobim Mugatu,
who has a foxy Russian henchwoman (Milla Jovovich, The Claim) available to
do his bidding.
Most of Zoolander's laughs come at the expense of male models, but the
film's biggest gag might be its attempt to push Stiller (who's practically a
chimp) and Wilson (who has the worst nose in Hollywood) as the cream of the
world's modeling crop. But Zoolander is far from a one-joke flick. There
are plenty of very funny set pieces (including Derek's return to his
coal-mining roots) and a ton of nods to other films (most notably and
hysterically, 2001: A Space Odyssey). Stiller also casts half of the
industry as both themselves and fictional characters (including a nearly
unrecognizable Andy Dick), as well as most of his family.
Wilson, once again, steals the show in the acting department (he's been
believable as a cowboy, a serial killer, and now, a rock-star-like model).
As far as Stiller's direction (which I've thought has been overrated ever
since Reality Bites), he's far from being what even the dimmest person could
consider accomplished, but he gets the job done by keeping the film's pace
quick and steady. Stiller co-wrote Zoolander's script with Drake Sather,
who has worked on some of television's funniest shows (NewsRadio, The Larry
Sanders Show). And Zoolander is yet another film that previously featured
shots of the World Trade Center, which have been removed from the prints
that will make their way to theatres near you.
1:30 - PG-13 on appeal for sexual content and drug references
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29616
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 251904
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 595
X-RT-AuthorID: 1146
Annette Cardwell
A film review by Annette Cardwell
Copyright 2001 filmcritic.com
In Zoolander, the world's most successful, influential and
intellectually-challenged male model Derek Zoolander wonders, "Is there
more to life than being really really really good looking?" Obviously,
the film's creator and star Ben Stiller asked a similar question when
crafting a feature-length movie out of his hilarious VH1/Vogue Fashion
Awards short-film subject: Can there be more to this film than being
really really really silly? No, of course not, and it never aspires to
be anything more.
Much like Derek, Zoolander is a sweet simpleton of a movie. It's not
complex in either its social commentary or its comedy, and it never
produces any gut-busting laughs (except maybe a scene when Derek's model
roommates all die in a tragic "gasoline fight" accident -- a riotously
funny take-off of Tommy Hilfiger ads). But it has a satisfying handful
of strong chuckles, wild characters and performances, and mildly harsh
potshots at the fashion industry to keep you amused. Better yet, this
exaggerated version of the original three-minute skit is only blown out
to an efficient 95 minutes -- just enough time to string together its
goofball plot without exhausting the gag.
Zoolander opens with several fashion bigwigs plotting to assassinate the
Prime Minister of Malaysia, since he wants to abolish child labor in his
country and thus driving up their costs. Fashion designer and criminal
mastermind Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell) drafts a plan to brainwash the
dumbest fashion model to carry out the evil deed. Enter Derek, whose
career is slumping as newcomer Hansel (Owen Wilson) takes the
spotlight. On the trail of Mugatu's plot is Time magazine reporter
Matilda Jeffries (Stiller's real-life wife Christine Taylor), and she's
hoping to use Mugatu's pawn Derek to ultimately foil the scheme.
Much like the Austin Powers films, Zoolander relies heavily on the
strength of the talent involved, and this zany comedy features some of
the funniest people in entertainment today. Wilson is hysterical as the
young, vain Hansel. Ferrell nearly steals the show from everyone as the
flamboyant, freakish Mugatu in the same way Dr. Evil upstages everyone
in Austin Powers. Jerry Stiller -- Ben's dad who's best remembered as
Frank Costanza of Seinfeld -- makes a priceless turn as Derek's slimy
agent Maury Ballstein. Even Ben Stiller Show alum Andy Dick shows up as
a deranged, large-assed masseuse. As for Ben Stiller, it seems his
Derek has one gag: He's stupid, which plays out in some uproarious
one-liners.
Unfortunately, Taylor seems out of place and out of her league here.
Maybe it's just because I can't stop seeing her as Marcia Brady (who she
played in both Brady movies), making her unbelievable as a dowdy, brainy
plain Jane who hasn't had sex in two years. She leaves me pining for
the cynicism of Janeane Garofolo, who would've added real comic
substance to the flimsy role.
While Zoolander is hardly highbrow, its screwball humor is welcome
during these trying times, especially considering the gross lack of
decent pickings in the theaters these days. Zoolander's no masterpiece,
but a very worthy distraction.
RATING: ***1/2
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Ben Stiller
Producer: Stuart Cornfeld, Scott Rudin, Ben Stiller
Writer: Drake Sather, Ben Stiller, John Hamburg
Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Christine Taylor, Will Ferrell,
Jerry Stiller, Milla Jovovich
---
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=filmcriticcom&path=subst/video/sellers/amazon-top-100-dvd.html
Movie Fiends: Check out Amazon.com's Top 100 Hot DVDs!
Visit filmcritic.com on the Web at http://www.filmcritic.com
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29622
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 251905
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 178
X-RT-AuthorID: 3595
X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/5
Bob Bloom
Ferrell, Christine Taylor, Milla Jovovich, Jerry Stiller and Jon Voight. Story
by Drake Sather and Ben Stiller. Screenplay by Drake Sather & Ben Stiller and
John Hamburg. Directed by Ben Stiller. Approx. 100 minutes. Rated PG-13.
Zoolander is stupid fun - emphasis on stupid - with only a couple of missteps
that mar its overall enjoyment.
The movie, co-produced, co-written, directed by and starring Ben Stiller, is
nothing more than a satirical jab at the fashion industry and the perception of
male models as dim-witted, self-obsessed dolts who are pliable and easily
manipulated. It almost seems like a redundancy.
It doesn't sound like much, and nor does it seem like it takes much effort to
skewer male models. After all, Fabio does it all the time just by being himself.
Zoolander's plot, unfortunately, is in bad taste, considering today's political
climate. It revolves around a cartel of designers wanting the new prime minister
of Malaysia assassinated because he is vowing to raise the wages of his
countrymen who slave in the sweatshops run by said same designers.
It would have been less objectionable if a real nation had not been used and
the assassination plot had been altered to perhaps merely overthrowing the
leader.
The second misstep revolves around a sequence featuring three of Zoolander's
male model friends who it seems are so dumb that at a gas station they spray
each other with gasoline from the pumps. One is stupid enough to try lighting a
cigarette, thus blowing them all to smithereens. Recent events speak for
themselves as to why this scene should have been deleted.
And, yes, in fairness, people at the preview screening howled, thinking it was
hilarious. But there may be some in the audience - myself included - whose
sensitivities may preclude them from seeing the humor in such a situation.
But we cannot toss out the entire barrel because a couple of the apples are
rotten.
In truth, Zoolander is pure silliness, a no-brainer, just-sit-back-and-laugh
feature.
The plot is simple. Since male models are easy to control one must be
brainwashed - or in this case given a light rinse - to carry out the diabolical
plot. And who is the most vacuous model around, why three-time model of the
year, Derek Zoolander master of the "blue-steel" look.
Stiller captures the walk and talk - as well as the look - of the male model.
He snaps his head, raises an eyebrow, furrows his brow in incomprehension with
comical ease.
His Zoolander is a man-child, as dense as an Adirondack forest. When his
reporter girlfriend, Matilda (woodenly played by Stiller's wife, Christine
Taylor) tells Zoolander and his main rival, Hansel (Owen Wilson), that she was
once bulimic, Zoolander looks at her in awe and says, "You can read minds?"
That's about the level of the movie's humor.
A "walk-off" between Zoolander and Hansel, judged by David Bowie, is one of the
film's more inventive sequences, as is a scene in which former X-Files star
David Duchovny shows up as a conspiracy theorist who explains to Zoolander and
Matilda how all the political assassinations of the past 200 years have been
carried out by male models.
Wilson walks away with the film as the laid-back Hansel, who shifts from
Zoolander's main rival to ally in his attempt to halt the assassination plot.
With his long blonde locks and outlandish outfits, he makes a charming
blockhead.
The movie's main villain, Mugatu, is portrayed by Saturday Night Live's Will
Ferrell who has yet to find a film role that truly exploits his talents. Here,
he is reduced to merely yelling and mugging, while wearing ridiculous outfits
with a crop of white hair that looks like it was borrowed from the Three
Stooges' Larry Fine.
At least Stiller made the film a family affair, giving his mom, Anne Meara, the
small role of a protester, while his dad, Jerry Stiller, plays Zoolander's
agent.
Zoolander has its shortcomings. It is definitely not sophisticated humor, but
it does provide several laughs. And you will never be able to look at a model
again without wondering how akin he is to Derek Zoolander.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He
can be reached by e-mail at bl...@journal-courier.com or at bobb...@iquest.net.
Other reviews by Bloom can be found by going to www.jconline.com and clicking on
golafayette.
Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29624
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 252167
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 872
X-RT-AuthorID: 1363
X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/4
Harvey S. Karten
Reviewed by Harvey Karten
Paramount Pictures
Director: Ben Stiller
Writer: John Hamburg, Drake Sather
Cast: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Christine Taylor, Will Ferrell,
Jerry Stiller, Milla Jovovich, David Duchovny, David Pressman,
Matt Levin
Screened at: Kips Bay, NYC 9/29/01
We wear clothes not only to keep warm and preserve our
modesty but to make a statement. For quite a while, young
women in the U.S. wore jeans torn at the kneecaps, presumably
to show their solidarity with the poor; a statement not only
patronizing but downright ridiculous. Women in Afghanistan
must cover every part of their bodies except their eyes by order
of the Taliban government, a statement not only of modesty but
of religious belief, at least as interpreted by the rulers in Kabul.
Nowadays some young people pierce their navels, their tongues,
their eyebrows and more, to show...I don't what...but in any case
that's additional evidence that what we wear often has little to do
with our need for warmth or rational expression. The fashion
industry in America makes sure that styles change frequently,
thus filling the coffers of the corporations, but the most extreme
illustration of pretentiousness involves the clothes worn by
fashion modes, who show off their designers' ego by donning
raiments shown in stores in the most fashionable boutiques. The
enterprise is ripe for satire. Director Ben Stiller pushes parody
in "Zoolander," so called because that is the name of its
principal character, Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller).
The movie has quite a few laughs, but at 85 minutes outwears
its welcome with redundancies. "Zoolander" is more a
series of sketches about yet another version of Dumb and
Dumber, played respectively by Owen Wilson in the role of
male model Hansel and Ben Stiller as the title character. Derek
Zoolander is the country's most famous male model, having won
the distinction three years consecutively, but like many other
models (at least according to Drake Sather, Ben Stiller and John
Hamburg's screenplay), he is an empty vessel. He is chosen by
a group of conspirators who could have come out of a James
Bond movie to assist, unknowingly, in the assassination of
Malaysia's (uncredited) prime minister, an official who has
promised to raise the wages paid to those who put the clothing
together. A wage increase would seriously dampen profits of the
clothing industry i America presided over by Mugatu (Will Ferrell,
wearing an absurd hair style and carrying a small white poodle
throughout he story). As Zoolander takes part in the modeling of
Mugatu's Derelicte" collection--actually a glorification of the
outfits worn by homeless people in urban streets--he is
unwittingly aiding in the political assassination.
Director Stiller could have used its lampoon to explore the
actual exploitation of people in the Third World, who must resent
the very well-to-do Americans for whom they are making their
clothing. But the picture, unfortunately, in no way seeks to do
what iconoclastic filmmaker Michael Moore achieved in his faux
documentary, "The Big One," which took aim at the Nike
company for paying starvation wages to the Indonesians who
sew the running shoes together. (30,000 Indonesia workers put
together make less than one American on the Nike payroll,
Michael Jordan, who makes 20 million or so a year simply for
endorsing the product.)
Still, "Zoolander" has some laughs to offer, especially beneficial
to those who believe that in these challenging, post-World Trade
Center times we need broad-comedy-hold-the-satire. Some cute
gags involve the founding of a "Center for Children Who Can't
Read Good" and the action taken with a computer to release
incriminating files. A father-son dialogue between Ben and Jerry
(Stiller) is effective and a New Jersey joke is not without good
fun.
Rated PG-13. Running time: 85 minutes. (C) 2001 by
Harvey Karten, film_...@compuserve.com
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29635
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 252195
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 570
X-RT-AuthorID: 1123
Laura Clifford
---------
Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller, "Meet the Parents") has been the Male Model
of the year for three year's running with his patented "Blue Steel" look.
When the extreme sports, New Age Hansel (Owen Wilson, "Meet the Parents")
takes his title in year four, Zoolander decides that 'there's more to life
than
just being really, really good looking, and I plan on finding out what it
is.' Meanwhile, an evil fashion conglomerate determined to keep their
pocket-gouging profits intact needs an assassin to rub out the prime minister
of Malaysia in order to keep its foreign child labor pool stitching away.
Hot designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell, "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back") is tasked
with luring Derek back into the fashion world and programming him to kill in
"Zoolander."
Cross the colorful pop silliness of spy spoof "Austin Powers" with the
dimwitted, albeit good-hearted, vanity of "Clueless'" central character
and birth is given to cowriter/director Ben Stiller's "Zoolander." While
not as witty as the latter, Jane Austen-inspired film, "Zoolander" has
enough inspired goofiness to maintain a consistent giggle fit.
After establishing the dominance of Zoolander in the fashion world, Stiller
batters his creation's self esteem. His loss of Male Model of the Year
(in a year when Fabio wins the 'slashie' for model/actor) is followed by an
unflattering Time Magazine cover feature by Matilda (Stiller's wife Christine
Taylor, "The Brady Bunch Movie"). Then, when his three male model
roommates attempt to cheer him up with a mini-road trip, they perish in
a 'freak gasoline fight accident.' The now-lone inhabitant of a four-way
bunk bed decides to head for home (in matching bone snakeskin suit and
wardrobe bag) to work with his father (Jon Voight) and brothers in the coal
mines of New Jersey, but he's rebuffed for his former, unmanly profession.
Mugatu, who's never used Zoolander in one of his campaigns before, appeals
to his vanity by asking him to be the spokesmodel for his new 'Derelicte' line
(inspired by the homeless). Whisked away to a hidden inner-city day spa by
the Russian S&M clad Katinka (Milla Jovovich, "The Fifth Element"),
Zoolander's
brainwashed. Luckily, regretful Time reporter Matilda, attempting to make
amends, begins to smell a rat.
Writers Stiller, John Hamburg ("Meet the Parents") and Drake Sather
("The MTV Movie Awards") hang juvenile humor (Derek's roomies communicate
with a string of 'Earth to's) and spot on parodies (the personality profiles
of Zoolander and Hansel at the awards ceremony) on a recycled plot they
wisely realize doesn't matter. Director Stiller weaves the written silliness
with visual jokes and highlights the whole affair with celebrity cameos
that come at the audience every few minutes. Zoolander's brainwashing scene
utilizes retro pop-art and music video imagery to its best effect while his
'walk-off' with Hansel, a split-screen, gun-slinging parody set to Michael
Jackson's 'Beat It' is the film's comic highlight. Inventive production
design by Robin Standefer ("The Caveman's Valentine") climaxes with Hansel's
'all things exotic and New Age' mishmash of a loft space including a
'dirt room' where Matilda's treated to a menage a trois. Costume design
by David C. Robinson ("Pollock") is a mixture of the made-up outrageous
(Mugatu's garbage-inspired 'Derelicte' line) with the already outrageous.
Stiller combines a 'sucking-in-cheeks' zoned-out look with exaggerated
poses, while Wilson's more natural as the scooter-riding High Times cover
boy. Amazingly, Taylor makes her straight-woman role work while Jovovich
gets laughs from her femme fatale makeup design. Stiller's dad Jerry
gets some Catskill-style yuks as Zoolander's manager Maury Ballstein.
The only disappointment is the usually reliable Will Ferrell who only
gets laughs from his Klaus Nomi hairstyle. Hair also gets laughs when
we're introduced to Zoolander's dad, Jon Voight, and brothers (Vince
Vaughn is one) who sport the same, dark brushcut as their model relative.
The style shows up again on David Duchovny, an informant hand model.
B+
For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com
la...@reelingreviews.com
ro...@reelingreviews.com
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29640
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 252205
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 386
X-RT-AuthorID: 1487
Shannon Patrick Sullivan
Directed by Ben Stiller. Screenplay by Drake Sather, Stiller, and John
Hamburg, based on a story and a character created by Sather and Stiller.
Starring Stiller, Owen Wilson, Christine Taylor. Running time: 90 minutes.
Rated PG for mature theme by the MFCB. Reviewed on September 30th, 2001.
By SHANNON PATRICK SULLIVAN
Synopsis: Derek Zoolander (Stiller) is a male model in the twilight of his
career who becomes brainwashed by fashion designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell).
Mugatu wants Zoolander to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia, who
plans to introduce new child-labour laws which will cripple the fashion
industry. Mugatu's scheme is uncovered by reporter Matilda Jeffries
(Taylor), who convinces Zoolander to join forces with his archrival,
up-and-comer Hansel (Wilson), to stop Mugatu before Zoolander's
programming is activated.
Review: "Zoolander" will no doubt invite comparisons with the "Austin
Powers" movies, since both title characters are image-conscious dolts
embroiled in global conspiracies. But whereas Austin was a satire on the
entire James Bond-style spy genre, Zoolander is just a pastiche on a
specific profession: the male model, with the espionage elements grafted
on rather arbitrarily. There is, therefore, comparatively less material to
be mined in this release, but Stiller does a good job of working his
premise for every last ounce of humour. As Zoolander, Stiller finds the
right note somewhere between sympathetic dimwittedness and head-smacking
stupidity. He matches up well with Wilson, whose performance here echoes
his role in "Shanghai Noon"; his Aryan poster child, Hansel, exudes the
right amount of brash confidence and, well, head-smacking stupidity.
Taylor is more poorly served by the script, which provides her with little
personality beyond "beautiful crusading reporter". And Ferrell is amusing
-- and, fortunately, not overused -- as the fiendish Mugatu. Not all the
jokes work, but there are flashes of brilliance, such as Derek's indignant
reaction to the unveiling of a miniature school for underprivileged
youngsters. And even when it's less than successful, the sheer vitality
Stiller brings to "Zoolander" helps distinguish it from similar fare.
Copyright © 2001 Shannon Patrick Sullivan.
Archived at The Popcorn Gallery,
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sps/movies.html
| Shannon Patrick Sullivan | sha...@mun.ca |
+---------------------------------+---------------------------------+
/ Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel) go.to/drwho-history \
\__ We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars __/
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29643
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 252383
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 886
X-RT-AuthorID: 1699
X-RT-RatingText: 2.5/4
JoBlo
RATING: 7/10
http://www.joblo.com/zoolander.htm
For more reviews and movie trailers, visit http://www.joblo.com/
PLOT:
Derek Zoolander is a male model. He is also very dumb and impressionable. For
that reason, he is secretly hired and trained (so secret, that even he doesn't
know about it) by an underground fashion syndicate to assassinate the prime
minister of Malaysia, who wants to abolish child labor in his country. Will
Zoolander fulfill the dirty deed? Will Zoolander ever grace the world his new
"look"? Is this a funny movie? Find out below...
CRITIQUE:
There's a place in our world for "stupid comedies". Films which don't pretend to
take themselves seriously, are based on idiotic premises and filled with dumb
jokes. There's also a time for them and many would argue that this difficult
period of our history, might be an ideal circumstance during which to "relax" by
watching something so completely frivolous. Well, if you're in the mood for some
seriously mindless entertainment, Ben Stiller and his cast of many have
assembled one of the more original dumb comedies in some time. Of course,
comedies as such are usually very subjective and I could see how some will see
this film simply as stupid and unfunny, while others will grant them the
"stupid", but consider it funny instead. I personally enjoyed it for the most
part, cracked up loudly during a couple of specific sequences and loved the
Derek Zoolander character and the unrestrained whipping they released upon the
fashion industry. Snap! It was also nice to see several real-life models with
small roles in the movie, not taking themselves too seriously. And if you're the
type of person who likes celebrity cameos in films, well, don't look any further
because dozens of famous faces show up here including Vince Vaughn, Billy Zane,
Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, David Duchovny, Natalie Portman and many, many
others. I especially liked Andy Dick's complete make-over as the masseuse.
Hi-larious!
But with all films of this type, there is bound to be some stuff that simply
doesn't work. A few particulars which didn't strike my fancy included the
bulimia and "orgy" sequence with Christine Taylor, the break-dance fighting, and
I also never get why they use real countries in plots like this (why not just
"make up" a country, instead of zeroing in on a certain people?). I also could
have done with less of the Taylor character in general, since she wasn't all
that interesting and seemed to slow things down every now and then (more
Zoolander, dude!). But those few missteps were nothing compared to some of the
more memorable scenes which definitely did work for me! I almost pissed myself
during the "gas station" disaster, absolutely adored the "walk-off" contest
(with David Bowie as the judge, no less) and appreciated many of Zoolander's
moronic one-liners ("I was a Merman...a Merman!!"). And I dare you to get his
"monkey" photo shoot out of your head after seeing this movie ("You're a monkey,
Derek...a monkey!") I also really liked the soundtrack and the pace of the film,
both of which zipped and zagged, and established a nice rhythm to it all. Again,
it's to note that this movie is dumb and not for everyone, but my guess is that
if you laughed at the trailer, you will likely enjoy many of the quips in the
actual picture as well. If you thought the trailer was dumb, skip this dodo bird
and go rent AUSTIN POWERS again or something, a film from which there is an
obvious influence here. Blue Steel, baby...yeah!!!
Where's JoBlo coming from?
Austin Powers (7/10) - Austin Powers 2 (7/10) - Deuce Bigalow (7/10) - Dude,
Where's My Car (7/10) - Freddy Got Fingered (5/10) - Jay & Silent Bob Strike
Back (8/10) - Joe Dirt (5/10) - Meet the Parents (8/10) - Say It Isn't So
(3/10)
Review Date: September 30, 2001
Director: Ben Stiller
Writers: Ben Stiller, Drake Sather, John Hamburg
Producers: Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld, Scott Rudin
Actors: Ben Stiller as Derek Zoolander
Owen Wilson as Hansel
Will Ferrell as Mugatu
Genre: Comedy
Year of Release: 2001
------------------------------------
JoBlo's Movie Emporium
http://www.joblo.com/
------------------------------------
(c) 2001 Berge Garabedian
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29647
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 252269
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 573
X-RT-AuthorID: 1021
X-RT-RatingText: 7/10
David N. Butterworth
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2001 David N. Butterworth
*1/2 (out of ****)
Having a poke at the fashion industry (and, more specifically, its
preening portfolio of male models) doesn't exactly take a degree in rocket
science but Ben Stiller takes a stab at it anyway in "Zoolander," his
latest turn behind the camera. It's obvious from the turgid Bond-ian
opening that something is amiss, and you quickly wonder just how long
Stiller, the put-upon star of "Meet the Parents" and the occasional
director of such films as "Reality Bites" and "The Cable Guy," can drag
this catwalk spectacle out.
Not long it seems.
Derek Zoolander (Stiller) is the toast of the fashion world and, as the
film opens, is up for Male Model of the Year for an unprecedented fourth
time (he's won three years in a row). Apart from being terribly
good-looking (his words not theirs), Derek has perfected The Look. He
calls one of its several manifestations Blue Steel, an edgy glance to
camera, eyebrows tight, lips pursed in a half-kiss, half-smile. It's a
look that can be seen all over town--on billboards, on magazine covers,
everywhere. Le Tigre is another one (it's exactly the same look). He's
working on a new one--Magnum--but after nine years it's still not perfected.
The only threat to Derek's throne is a blue-eyed blond supermodel named
Hansel. Played by Owen Wilson (from "Shanghai Noon"; he also played
opposite Stiller in "Meet the Parents"), Hansel is every bit as
handsome--and intellectually impaired--as his rival. These two pretty
dimwits go at in on the runway and just about every fashion world cliché
gets trampled on in the process. There's also a plot to kill the prime
minister of Malaysia!
Stiller must be a popular guy in Hollywood these days because his film is
populated with a veritable Who's Who of television and movie talent. Many
of these, like David Duchovny, David Bowie, and Winona Ryder, show up for
brief scenes and disappear soon after and some (like Gary Shandling and
Vince Vaughn) don't even get a speaking part. But they clearly wanted to
be in Ben's picture. I can understand that: Stiller's a terrifically funny
guy (and I mean that most sincerely: he's the *only* reason to ever rent
"Mystery Men"!).
So how come "Zoolander" misses the mark? Perhaps its subject matter is
simply too obvious and the jokes simply not funny enough. If you're going
to take such an easy target you have to do something special with it but
Stiller, who co-wrote the movie with Drake Sather and John Hamburg based on
a VH-1/Vogue Fashion Awards character from five years ago, never really
moves the humor a notch above silly. There are certainly chuckles to be
found here--it's hard watching anyone, let alone Stiller, who seems to have
a natural and uncanny aptitude for physical comedy, posing and posturing
and prancing around in silly outfits to Frankie Goes to Hollywood without
cracking a smile--but "Zoolander" never pushes the envelope, never touches
on inspired. It's frivolous and not much more.
Co-starring Will Ferrell as a poodle-coiffed designer named Mugatu, Milla
Jovovich as his butch henchwoman, Christine Taylor (still a dead ringer for
"The Brady Bunch"'s Marcia) as the love interest and, oh, Ben's Dad Jerry,
"Zoolander" is another one of those "Saturday Night Live"-styled sketches
dragged out in perpetuity. The most disappointing thing about Stiller's
film, however, is that all it appears to be saying is that male models
don't seem to have a lot between the ears. There. I just saved you eight
bucks.
--
David N. Butterworth
d...@dca.net
Got beef? Visit "La Movie Boeuf"
online at http://members.dca.net/dnb
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29657
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 252461
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 878
X-RT-AuthorID: 1393
X-RT-RatingText: 1.5/4
Jonathan F. Richards
Rated PG-13, 85 minutes
Directed by Ben Stiller
WHEN, WHERE
Now playing at the UA South
Movies are back, and the public is flocking to see them. After a week in
which nothing opened in Santa Fe and only the Mariah Carey flop “Glitter” tested
the waters nationwide, the screens are alive with the sound of movies, as people
try to recover that elusive feeling of feeling good.
“Zoolander” might do it for you. The title character is dumb as dirt, but
the movie is not. It takes a slender gag and dances with it, managing to keep
the laughs percolating most of the way. Writer-director Ben Stiller and his
writing partners John Hamburg and Drake Sather have taken what began life as a
1996 VH1 Fashion Awards sketch, and strung it out to feature length with a
nimbler hand than you might imagine.
Derek Zoolander is the world’s top male model – or has been, up until now.
When he’s beaten out for his fourth straight Male Model of the Year award by
blond-tressed upstart Hansel (Owen Wilson), he goes into a funk, and begins to
contemplate the heretical notion that there may be more to life than just being
really, really incredibly good-looking. He shocks the fashion world by
announcing his retirement, but is soon lured out by an offer from super designer
Mugatu (Will Ferrell) to be the face of his new fashion concept inspired by the
homeless, a line called Derelicte. But that’s only a cover, Mugatu’s real
designs are dastardly and dark.
The fashion industry, it turns out, has been behind every political
assassination over the past 200 years. Male models, really really incredibly
good-looking without and as vacant as an unfinished building within, are the
perfect tools for the job. Mugatu wants the Prime Minister of Malaysia
eliminated. The Prime Minister is one of those bleeding hearts who wants to
toughen child labor laws in his country and interfere with “the age-old right of
children to work.” This could have serious consequences for the fashion
industry. So Zoolander, all unsuspecting, is brainwashed and programmed to do
the nefarious deed.
In this space a week ago I wrote about the way the September 11th terror
has colored the way we see many things, and here’s another example of that
shifted paradigm. A comic premise involving a person or persons brainwashed to
carry out a lethal act doesn’t retain the same sublime silliness today that it
must have had when Stiller and his partners were writing it. The studio had no
way around that one, but it did take the trouble to digitally erase the World
Trade Center from several shots of the New York City skyline in an effort to
spare the sensibilities of an audience primed for comedy.
But “Zoolander” is just plain funny, silly stuff. To hold it up as an
example of all that’s wrong with America, as Roger Ebert has done in his
agonized review (“There have been articles lately asking why the United States
is so hated in some parts of the world. As this week's Exhibit A from Hollywood,
I offer ‘Zoolander,’") is to betray a serious, if pardonable, loss of
perspective. This is the kind of thing that inspired the phrase “Oh, lighten
up!”
Stiller’s script and direction keep this spoof aloft for longer than you
might think possible, and at a trim 85 minutes it’s only a little too long.
It’s strewn with cameos that include David Bowie, Billy Zane, Garry Shandling,
Winona Ryder, and a wonderful scene in a graveyard with David Duchovny as a
former star hand model who reveals the dark scope of the plot. Stiller’s pal
Owen Wilson is gloriously dim as Zoolander’s rival, and his father Jerry Stiller
and his wife Christine Taylor are good in supporting roles.
Male models may not seem like a necessary target for satire, but there’s
something so beguilingly ridiculous about the idea that it doesn’t require
justification. Stiller creates a character as fabulously glittering and empty
as cubic zirconium, and his purse-lipped, penetrating “Blue Steel” look is
hilarious. If you don’t think the idea of Stiller as the world’s top male model
is funny, this kind of comedy may well be beneath you. But that would be too
bad.
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29679
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 252511
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 896
X-RT-AuthorID: 2779
Ram Samudrala
Zoolander
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/zoolander.html
It's great to see that America hasn't lost its taste for gratuitous
violence given the events of September 11, 2001. There's a hilarious
scene in /Zoolander/ where three male models spray petrol on each
other playfully (like a soap commercial). One of them decides to light
up and they all blow up. The audience was rolling with laughter at
this point.
/Zoolander/ is mild commentary on both the trivial nature of
fashion/show business as well as the plight of sweat shop workers
worldwide. Since the fashion industry (at least in the film) stands to
gain from cheap child labour, they are against the newest Malaysian
Prime Minister's campaign promises to eradicate child labour as well
as increase wages. They ask fashion giant Jacobin Mugatu (Will
Ferrell) to find someone incredibly stupid so this person can be
brainwashed into assassinating the Prime Minister.
Cue to Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller), the male super model who has won
the Model of the Year award thrice in a row and has just lost to
Hansel (Owen Wilson) in the fourth year. Depressed, Zoolander lacks a
sense of purpose until Mugatu convinces him to model the new
"Derelicte" line of clothes (modelled after homeless people in New
York City). Zoolander is unwittingly brainwashed into executing
Mugatu's plan, but Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor), a TIME
Magazine writer and Zoolander's love interest, ends up being a fly in
Mugatu's hair gel.
After the initial "there's got to be more to life than looking really
really really good" lines, delivered with biting wit by Stiller, the
film gets into high gear coming up with a few classic scenes including
the above mentioned petrol party scene, the coal mine scene where
Zoolander starts to work, and his reaction to a model for an institute
he wants to build to help children read really really good. Owen
Wilson is also steals some scenes as the cocky and equally stupid
Hansel. Appearances by David Duchovny and Billy Zane are also amusing.
The 80s music soundtrack is the icing on the cake.
Even though the commentary about the vacuousness of the
show/modelling/entertainment industry is pretty much on the mark, that
doesn't mean the industry a bad thing. It's a sign of an affluent
society where one can devote insane amounts of resources to the inane
and insipid.
/Zoolander/ is a fun movie, delivering what you'd expect from a
Stiller effort (he wrote and directed), perhaps even more. The
movie's messages are on the mark, but it delivers them with a sense of
whacked-out fun. Given the recent events, there's no doubt that
/Zoolander/ is going to end up being offensive to various groups of
people. In my view, that adds to its punch.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
email@urls || http://www.ram.org || http://www.twisted-helices.com/th
Movie ram-blings: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies.html
==========
X-RAMR-ID: 29696
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 252621
X-RT-TitleID: 1110145
X-RT-SourceID: 302
X-RT-AuthorID: 29