Zoolander: Really, Really Ridiculously Underappreciated
Ben Stiller’s last great starring vehicle is 10-years-old come September. We look back at the mediocre box office masterpiece.
Sure, the fashion world is an easy target, though the same could be said of zoos, and from what I gleaned from The Zookeeper trailer, Kevin James basically sits in an Applebee’s booth and binges on cheese sticks with a CGI lion in that movie. Ben Stiller’s character, Derek Zoolander, issues malaprops to the power of Snooki squared. When Matilda, a Time reporter, confesses a bout with bulimia, Zoolander replies, “You can read minds?” Owen Wilson is at his finest as Zoolander’s bro-ish competition-turned-friend, as is Jerry Stiller, playing the head of Zoolander’s agency, who dons a progressively more blinged-out sweatsuit in each scene. Will Ferrell is just unhinged as Mugatu, the “Derelicte” designer who looks like a cross between a Scandinavian death metal singer and a Bravo reality show hair stylist. Most importantly: there are jokes in Zoolander. Real jokes! With punchlines! Written down beforehand! In a script! It’s not like “comedy” now, which more often than not translates to farting schlubs volleying a bong for two and a half hours.
