Movie Review: 'Zoolander 2'
By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Hyphenate Ben Stiller was the writer-producer-director-star of the spiffy spoof, Zoolander, in 2001.
He returns as the four-hat hyphenate in the sequel, Zoolander 2, with another broad, silly, enjoyable male-modeling slapstick farce.
His title character, who sounds like Marilyn Monroe after gender-reassignment surgery, returns and still has the IQ of a belt buckle.
The sequel, perhaps inevitably, loses a bit in the freshness and unpredictability departments, but it's another gleefully goofy cloak-and-catwalk comedy with a passion for trashin' fashion.
Stiller plays Derek Zoolander, who continues to dedicate himself to spreading the word that there's more to life than just being really, really good-looking.
He's currently out of fashion – in both meanings -- and hiding away from the spotlight following a disaster at his Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good.
But when the world's most beautiful musical celebrities, including Justin Bieber, begin to be systematically assassinated with one of Zoolander's world-famous signature facial expressions, "Blue Steel," on their famous faces, Interpol coaxes Derek to come out of retirement and recruits him and rival-turned-partner Hansel, played again by Owen Wilson, for a dangerous undercover assignment.
And who are they up against? Why, revenge-seeking Jacobim Mugatu, that's who, played once again by Will Ferrell.
As for the rest of the plot, such as it is, suffice to say that it involves Derek's son and the fountain of youth.
The supporting cast also welcomes newcomers Kristen Wiig, Penelope Cruz, Olivia Munn, and the estimable Benedict Cumberbatch in what has turned into the controversial role of an androgynous supermodel.
Stiller, whose directorial resume is not too shabby (Zoolander, Reality Bites, The Cable Guy, Tropic Thunder, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), stuffs his sequel with what seems like the world's record for celebrity cameos from the worlds of fashion, entertainment, and good old no-category-necessary famousness.
Watching the parade of cameos marching by, we wonder whether more time might also have been put into polishing the jokes because several opportunities have been squandered. But, in Stiller's defense, playing Spot the Next Celebrity is part of the mindless fun.
The anything-for-a-laugh script by Stiller, Justin Theroux, Nicholas Stoller, and John Hamburg uses low comedy to lampoon high fashion, shifting the setting from Manhattan to Rome, and using the thriller plot as a clothesline on which to hang the jokes.
The writers' mandate, of course, was to beckon fans of the original with the promise of a similar tone. But it's been a decade-and-a-half since DZ roamed the runway -- too long ago to feel current, but too recent to offer much in the way of nostalgia -- so there may not be much if any of a need to be filled.
However, the sprinkling of chuckles up for grabs puts the audience in a forgiving mood and distracts us from seeing this delayed follow-up as outdated.
So we'll comb the catwalk with 2½ stars out of 4. Zoolander 2 is a sequel that falls short of being Zoolander's equal, but that earns its share of laughs as Stiller waters run shallow – and funny.
