Zoolander
Director: | Ben Stiller |
Writers: | Drake Sather, Ben Stiller, and John Hamburg |
Paramount Pictures; PG-13; 89 minutes | |
Release: | 9/01 |
Cast: | Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell |
The world of high fashion isn't exactly funny, but it is certainly laughable. Ben Stiller takes advantage of this fact in Zoolander,which he stars in and directs. As Derek Zoolander, he's a smashingly popular supermodel whose range of expressions stretch from dumb to dumber. Zoolander loses the coveted Male Model of the Year award to archenemy Hansel (Owen Wilson). Bad press inked by Time reporter Matilda (Stiller's real-life wife, Christine Taylor) adds insult to injury. Despite the fact that Zoolander has precious little brain to wash, he gets brainwashed and hoodwinked into a haute-couture conspiracy to kill the prime minister of Malaysia, who opposes the child slave labor that fuels the fashion world's garment production. Milla Jovovich is a model-cum-assassin. Will Ferrell's a spoiled industry mastermind. Stiller's father, Jerry, plays his equally satirized agent. Cameos from David Bowie, Tommy Hilfiger, and others add to the overall fun.
Zoolander is zany, and for the most part, its absurdity is on-target.