When I try to think of just one line to start this review, the phrase: "Not Stiller's best" keeps turning up because this film is definitely not the best we've seen from him. Apparently the character of Zoolander was one that Stiller has given quite a lot of thought and has spent some time developing. I can't see how you could possibly spend time on a character as flat as Zoolander, however, because the character is only funny for about half an hour and then he just becomes annoying.
Much of the comedy in the film is based on how stupid the male models are and while it is funny watching Stiller pose and making an ass of himself it grows thin quite quickly (I did find his three identical facial poses extremely funny). Stiller fills out the character and you can see that the character is important to him but the character was in my opinion probably better off as a sketch-character and not a character that would warrant an entire movie because he simply isn't interesting enough. Owen Wilson does a mediocre job at best and his character comes alive only in the scenes with Stiller because of their chemistry. Christine Taylor is in my opinion probably a below average actress and her performance in this film in particular is pretty stiff to say the least. She has no real presence. Milla Jovovich has a quite funny role in the film but unfortunately she is critically underused. Will Ferrel and Jerry Stiller are both decent and both of them never really become memorable. Jerry Stiller does his best but his character is just too limited.
The trailer looked relatively funny but the actual film lacked spirit resulting in a very uneven comedy. There are a few funny scenes and only about one scene where I laughed hard and that was just not enough as I had expected more from it. The film also has another problem. Its too repetitive. Many of the jokes are recycled throughout the movie which would have been acceptable had the jokes been funny the first time but the problem as you have probably guessed is that they weren't.
Zoolander is definitely a comedy you have to be in the right mood for because if you're expecting something witty and well scripted this probably isn't were you would want to place your money. You have to be in the mood for something that is stupid and at times lame but if you can settle with that you should give it a try. I, myself, did not enjoy the film particularly but I was probably also in the wrong mood for it and as always watching a film is a highly subjective matter.
4/10
Much of the comedy in the film is based on how stupid the male models are and while it is funny watching Stiller pose and making an ass of himself it grows thin quite quickly (I did find his three identical facial poses extremely funny). Stiller fills out the character and you can see that the character is important to him but the character was in my opinion probably better off as a sketch-character and not a character that would warrant an entire movie because he simply isn't interesting enough. Owen Wilson does a mediocre job at best and his character comes alive only in the scenes with Stiller because of their chemistry. Christine Taylor is in my opinion probably a below average actress and her performance in this film in particular is pretty stiff to say the least. She has no real presence. Milla Jovovich has a quite funny role in the film but unfortunately she is critically underused. Will Ferrel and Jerry Stiller are both decent and both of them never really become memorable. Jerry Stiller does his best but his character is just too limited.
The trailer looked relatively funny but the actual film lacked spirit resulting in a very uneven comedy. There are a few funny scenes and only about one scene where I laughed hard and that was just not enough as I had expected more from it. The film also has another problem. Its too repetitive. Many of the jokes are recycled throughout the movie which would have been acceptable had the jokes been funny the first time but the problem as you have probably guessed is that they weren't.
Zoolander is definitely a comedy you have to be in the right mood for because if you're expecting something witty and well scripted this probably isn't were you would want to place your money. You have to be in the mood for something that is stupid and at times lame but if you can settle with that you should give it a try. I, myself, did not enjoy the film particularly but I was probably also in the wrong mood for it and as always watching a film is a highly subjective matter.
4/10