Zoolander

Reviewed by:
Eric Alt

You can’t discount timing. In light of recent events, the time is right for a brainless, goofy comedy and Zoolander is the perfect antidote to 24-hour CNN loops. Basically Ben Stiller’s Austin Powers, Zoolander is about a moronic male model who is brainwashed to assassinate the Malaysian Prime Minister (because he wants to abolish child labor, which would cripple the fashion industry) by an evil fashion designer played by SNL’s Will Ferrell (who, in one scene, manages to be funny just running across the room). It’s dumb, it’s all over the place, and, best of all, it’s actually pretty funny.

Directed by Stiller and featuring bit parts and cameos by the likes of Milla Jovovich, Jon Voight, and David Duchovny, Zoolander just manages to make one joke last for an entire movie (like we said, it’s Ben Stiller’s Austin Powers). Credit for this has to be given to Stiller and co-star Owen Wilson, who’s probably the closest young Hollywood has to a blue-chip property—even in the occasional crappy movie (The Haunting), this guy’s consistently good. If you need a dose of stupidity to lighten your mood, you could do worse.

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