'Zoolander' by Ben Stiller Review: A great comedy on the silliness of fashion

I didn't really have plans to watch or review anything today, but I came across a Zoolander gif online and it had me full of nostalgia and wanting to watch it. I realised it had been a long time since I had last seen it, and I wasn't quite sure what the story was actually about beyond the whole male model thing. My days lately have been filled with television shows and anime as the autumn season kicks in and my laziness and comfort take the reigns. But seeing Zoolanded had a relatively short runtime really just called for me to watch it again, partially craving some of that Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson idiocy. I think the two can be severely underrated in their own ways, a result of both of them working on a few flops here and there that must've spooked Hollywood away from casting them for a while. Owen Wilson disappeared for a bit, and Ben Stiller went behind the camera to direct and write more than act. Owen Wilson seeming to only really appear in smaller budget productions here and there or for Wes Anderson.

Ben Stiller has a lot of interesting works, however. And there's a good chance that you've probably seen a series he has worked on as a producer or director recently. And while he is incredibly talented behind the camera, I can't help but find him enjoyable in front of it also. These actors are like the last era of A List celebrities, the aging few that really dominated Hollywood before Hollywood drastically shifted and changed ways with franchises, reboots, and a significantly larger television series focus. Admittedly, I have a lot of nostalgia for this era. I often return to films like Zoolander that I have seen countless times, but have inevitably forgotten as the years go by. This is why Zoolander felt almost new to me, and I really liked it again due to this.

Zoolander speaks of a Hollywood that made simpler, more stupid things. When it wasn't afraid to essentially mock itself and the world it surrounds, particularly that of Los Angeles and New York. This isn't something you see that often now, and only adds more to the reasons to appreciate the film.

Much like the idea of Idiocracy, Zoolander shines the light at the stupid. But this is a world that loves stupidity, worships it even. Zoolander is a male model that only cares for his looks, believing he is really, really, really good looking. And that these looks are all that matter in life. Though it's only when a rival appears, played by Owen Wilson, that Zoolander comes to a sudden realisation that there might be more to life than all of this. As his rival begins to find success where Zoolander no longer does, it sends his character into some soul searching as he announces his retirement and intent to find a better way of life. Male modeling being all he knows. This seems like a general plot already for the film, but it extends beyond this. With Zoolander's stupidity, he's also the good candidate to be manipulated into assassinating the president of Malaysia for fashion brand that is trying to exploit child labour laws.

Ultimately there's a huge magnifying glass and mockery of the entire fashion industry in this film. Showing the absolute insanity of the models that consider themselves to be Godlike, and the brands that clothe them in weird, overpriced creations at the expense of poverty in other nations. All while the world cheers on it watches them in various advertisements and dramatic news reports. The whole critique of reality is pretty easy to miss too, if you look at the film at face value and consider it to just be a silly comedy. I kinda like that about this, it isn't really forcing any messaging into your face, but it's right there to see. And even if you don't pay attention to it, the comedy takes the reigns and Ben Stiller's performance as Zoolander is great.

I really love stupid comedy. That is comedy that uses cheap gags to get you to laugh. Making characters unbelievably stupid and the scenarios they get into even more so. Here in Zoolander, we see exactly that. And I love it. Zoolander's character is unbearably dumb, to the point where he can't even distinguish a model building from a real building created. Humour added in the fact that he uses a very tiny, fashionable phone. And spouts a pathetically small, fragile cough upon the first sign of actual manual labour in his life. But Zoolander, despite is idiocy, is actually a very loveable character. He's easy to connect with and actually does have good intentions despite how out of touch he is in the male modelling industry. I think this is a pretty solid character, one that seems so easy to create but difficult to really write well for. And it's through the other exaggerated characters that we see he's just part of a larger, nonsensical machine. Even being his rival, Owen Wilson's character isn't really a rival, but just one that dominates the fashion scene.

Ben Stiller's directing in Zoolander is fairly simple for the most part, but it shines in the exaggeration of its characters. Zooming in on their reactions, using slow motion to exaggerate the emotion, while also doing the opposite for moments of complete idiocy. I love how Owen Wilson's character is introduced, for example: rolling onto the carpet with a scooter, quickly disassembling it like a weapon before lacking it over his shoulder. The camera fixed on his eyes as he walks by Zoolander. This is supposed to be a moment of intense drama, yet as the audience we see two complete idiots, their coolness really just a result of directing techniques, there's really nothing interesting about them. I quite like this use of simplistic directing for the most part, still perspectives and symmetry, highlighting the perfection assumed of fashion, while then mixing things up for dramatic effect and silliness with more creative angles and movements.

And what makes this film more enjoyable is how it manages its relatively normal runtime. It doesn't stick around for too long, but it feels it really tells a few different stories all at once. Utilising each character well enough to give them weight to the main story while also some character development. Each character actually has some impact somehow, even down to the odd hand model informant that keeps his model hand kept in a safe glass container at all times. It's incredibly stupid, but works so well at giving extra depth to this stupid world while pushing the story forward. And the film doesn't assume it needs more time to do this. There isn't a ton of exposition or needless drama, it injects the drama into the characters and their performances directly. I couldn't even remember it being such a short film, but I do feel I appreciated it that extra bit more knowing it never overstayed its welcome.

If you haven't seen Zoolander, I highly recommend it. It's a film that's difficult to not enjoy. It should easily generate a few laughs, show you a silly world much inspired by our own, and actually say something of meaning while doing so.