Netflix UK film review: Zoolander
Review Overview
Laughs
9Really, really, ridiculous good looks
9Andrew Jones | On 08, Jan 2014
Director: Ben Stiller
Cast: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell
Certificate: 15
Watch Zoolander online in the UK: Netflix UK / Apple TV (iTunes) / Prime Video (Buy/Rent) / TalkTalk TV / Rakuten TV / Google Play
For international male model Derek Zoolander, the life of being really, really, ridiculously good looking is so easy: look to the camera, offer up such impressive poses as Blue Steel and Le Tigre and wear clothes while being told what to do by photographers. But when his friends are killed in a truly unavoidable petrol spray fight explosion, Derek begins to question his own existence and what good he’s doing in the world. Not helping this is new kid on the model block Hansel (Owen Wilson, so hot right now), who is taking Zoolander’s career from under his feet, and fashion designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell), who plans to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
This is a crazy, crazy comedy from Ben Stiller, whose previous directorial efforts were the very 90s Reality Bites and the dark The Cable Guy. Proving his talents as a capable helmer for goofy as well as sinister material, Zoolander stands to this day as the kind of film that grows on its audience; it seems like a silly character film from the outset, but with a script so insanely sharp, yet willing to go off on tangents for bigger laughs, the end result has become an undeniable cult classic.
And why wouldn’t it be, with cameos from the likes of James Marsden as John Wilkes Booth, David Duchovny as a hand model/conspiracy theorist and Billy Zane as Billy Zane, plus a boat-load more adding to the insanity? Mixed with quotes upon quotes (“Black Lung”, “Derelict my balls”, “A centre for ants”), you can re-watch it any time and find more treats hidden in the pile. This was back when comedy films tried, really tried, to make an audience laugh by filling both the screen and sound-stage with jokes of all shapes and sizes, and not just be really, really, ridiculously good looking.
Zoolander is available on Netflix UK, as part of an £9.99 monthly subscription.