With the recent release of Zoolander 2, I decided it was time I finally picked up the original classic on Blu-Ray, and boy, was it well worth it. It had been several years since I had watched Zoolander, and I was a little worried that it wouldn't be as good as I remembered. But my worries were unfounded as this film is just as funny now as it was fifteen years ago.
For those who don't know, Zoolander tells the story of Derek Zoolander, the world's greatest male model, who becomes the pawn in a diabolical scheme to assassinate a foreign dignitary in order to prevent child labor laws from going into effect. Zoolander has to team up with a news journalist named Matilda and his archnemesis, fellow male model, Hansel to stop this plot from coming to fruition.
Zoolander was written and directed by the star of the film, Ben Stiller, who had previously directed Reality Bites and The Cable Guy, however, this is Stiller's feature film writing debut after years of writing for television. Stiller's talents behind the camera are really impressive as seen in films like this, Tropic Thunder, and the amazing film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
Not only did Stiller do a great job directing this film, but he also was incredible as the idiotic male model, Derek Zoolander. For me, Ben Stiller tends to be hit-or-miss with his performances, but this has always been one of my favorite roles of his, and I will always remember "Blue Steel". His chemistry with Owen Wilson (Hansel) and Christine Taylor (Matilda) was just phenomenal, and they were all able to work off of one another extremely well. He even got to work side-by-side with his father, Jerry Stiller, who played his manager, Maury Ballstein. The other actor who really stood out to me in this film was Will Ferrell as the nefarious clothing designer Mugatu. I love Will Ferrell in most of what he has done and this is one of his best.
This movie is filled to the brim with celebrity cameos including Milla Jovovich, David Duchovny, Billy Zane, Lenny Kravitz, David Bowie, Fred Durst, Jon Voight, Judah Friedlander, Vince Vaughn, Donald Trump, Christian Slater, Cuba Gooding Jr., Natalie Portman, Fabio, Gwen Stefani, Heidi Klum, and many, many more. My favorite of all of these great cameos was David Duchovny, who plays J.P. Prewitt, a former hand model who knows Mugatu's dirty secret.
This film is so funny from beginning to end and has great performances from some very funny individuals. It was, and continues to be, one of my favorite comedies of all time and I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good laugh. Hopefully the long awaited sequel will be decent, as I'll be checking that out soon and will be writing a review for it as well, so keep your eyes open for that.
The Merc's Score: 8/10
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