I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is.
A review by Mike Shea Movie Rating: ( * · · · · ) DVD Rating: ( * * * * · )
I only saw this movie because a friend told me it was good. Every other friend I have told me I would hate it, but I had to try, I guess. Zoolander is as bad as anyone has ever said. Avoid it in all it's forms.
Stupid comedies are difficult to pull off. Movies like Austin Powers accomplish greatness by working very hard to set up funny situations. Many times, the sheer absurdity of the situation is as funny as the situation itself. The various items that seemed to come from Austin's bum in the silhouette scene or the proximity of a coffee pot to a beaker of fecal matter in Spy who Shagged Me are good examples. They are so unlikely and so obviously trying to set up a sight gag that you can't help but laugh. Zoolander never seemed to have any of that magic. The gasoline fight seems to be heading in that direction, but doesn't hit the mark. The horrible dialog just isn't funny, and Ben Stiller doesn't perform anywhere near as well as he did in Something about Mary or Royal Tenenbaums. Owen Wilson helps, but not much, and Christine Taylor added a level head of reality strong enough to remind me every second how much the movie sucked.
If I had one good thing to say about the movie, it was the cameos. There are enough of them and they are surprising enough to give a spot of fun to an otherwise bore of a film. This doesn't warrant seeing it, however.
The DVD of Zoolander includes a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and a 16x9 enhanced picture. There is a commentary track with Stiller but I had no desire to hear him talk for an hour and a half about how great his shitty movie was. There are no extras that make this worth any purchase or rental.
If you can't tell, I don't like this movie. I got blasted for my review of Van Wilder saying I don't know what good comedy is. I don't usually respond to the pokes, a good movie is what we each take away from it, but movies like Zoolander just aren't creative or interesting. There are many other mindless comedies that should be watched again instead of watching this one once. Watch any Austin Powers movie, The Big Lebowski, Something About Mary, or Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back instead.
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From: Richard ( richarddunaway@hotmail.com ) on 22 February 2003
Subject: response to review on Zoolander
When my 19 year old daughter bought Zoolander and brought it home, my reaction was repulsion, even after sitting with her for a few minutes bitching to high heaven. After telling me to shut up, she just looked and me and said this movie gets funnier everything you see it. Well she is right, Zoolander is a movie that is funnier after you have seen it more than once, Jerry Stiller and Anne Mearer are a riot. "Magnum". Check out Zoolander again, you won't be disappointed.
Austin Powers, though is not funny, but then again after the first two James Bond movies the whole campy spy thing became tedious and boring. Connery's best career move was to drop the whole thing. I think the bastardization of Ian Flemming's books is what actually killed him.
Kevin Smith is a genius or at least was, I hope his best work is not behind him. "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" is terrible, worse than that, it is an insult to Mr. Smith's art. It can only be hoped he made it because of death threats from religious fanatics over his epic, "Dogma" or because of some kind of contractual dispute with the studios or or that he has some type of brain damage, but not to sell out on his commercial fame.