They waited 15 year for this? When watching Zoolander 2 this was one of my first and most prevalent thoughts throughout Ben Stiller and co's return to the world of high stakes fashion, along with the questions of when is this about to get funny and why am I not watching Deadpool? In 2001 and the years that followed soon after, Zoolander shrugged off both disappointing box office returns and so-so critical receptions to become a huge home entertainment hit that secured it a place on many peoples DVD shelves and a fond place in their memories as a crazy but downright hilarious skewering of the fashion industry and people that are just ridiculously good looking.
Zoolander was both enjoyable for the audience and clearly the cast and director and star Ben Stiller got some great comedic turns out of himself, Owen Wilson and the then still rising Will Ferrell, not to mention a collection of memorable cameos and the simple story of male model Derek Zoolander saving the Malaysian prime minister was easy to digest and easy to like.
Two things Zoolander 2 is not.
Tired, flat, unimaginative and downright sad in many ways, Zoolander 2 see's almost all of the first films main cast return but even though they're there on face value, whatever charms or charisma they bought to their respective roles in the first place are no longer on show here. Stiller delivers what could be his most lacklustre lead performance of his career, making Derek hard to like and his delivery of jokes are worryingly miscued, as evidenced by a near silent cinema audience I watched the film with. The rest of the cast don't fare much better with Owen Wilson getting a few moments whilst Penelope Cruz will be one day regretting her turn here and Will Ferrell barely gets a chance to unleash his typical barrage of OTT centrepieces.
With a cast off their game, Zoolander 2's only hope of redemption laid in its narrative but with an overly loaded plot that somehow throws in the fountain of youth, sacrificial offerings, prison breakouts, father son bonding and more celebrity cameos than you can poke a selfie stick at, the first films simple set up is overtaken here by an uninteresting barrage of ideas, and when Justin Bieber is your most memorable moment, it's clear there are big problems for your film.
A movie that's both hard to laugh with and hard to laugh at, Zoolander 2 has very little chance of being fondly looked upon by anyone that found the first adventure even slightly entertaining. A not even half baked attempt to recreate successes of the past this comedic train wreck of a vanity project is likely to quickly fade from the public's memory, much like Billy Zane's career.
1 prolonged (and satisfying) demise of Justin Bieber out of 5
Zoolander was both enjoyable for the audience and clearly the cast and director and star Ben Stiller got some great comedic turns out of himself, Owen Wilson and the then still rising Will Ferrell, not to mention a collection of memorable cameos and the simple story of male model Derek Zoolander saving the Malaysian prime minister was easy to digest and easy to like.
Two things Zoolander 2 is not.
Tired, flat, unimaginative and downright sad in many ways, Zoolander 2 see's almost all of the first films main cast return but even though they're there on face value, whatever charms or charisma they bought to their respective roles in the first place are no longer on show here. Stiller delivers what could be his most lacklustre lead performance of his career, making Derek hard to like and his delivery of jokes are worryingly miscued, as evidenced by a near silent cinema audience I watched the film with. The rest of the cast don't fare much better with Owen Wilson getting a few moments whilst Penelope Cruz will be one day regretting her turn here and Will Ferrell barely gets a chance to unleash his typical barrage of OTT centrepieces.
With a cast off their game, Zoolander 2's only hope of redemption laid in its narrative but with an overly loaded plot that somehow throws in the fountain of youth, sacrificial offerings, prison breakouts, father son bonding and more celebrity cameos than you can poke a selfie stick at, the first films simple set up is overtaken here by an uninteresting barrage of ideas, and when Justin Bieber is your most memorable moment, it's clear there are big problems for your film.
A movie that's both hard to laugh with and hard to laugh at, Zoolander 2 has very little chance of being fondly looked upon by anyone that found the first adventure even slightly entertaining. A not even half baked attempt to recreate successes of the past this comedic train wreck of a vanity project is likely to quickly fade from the public's memory, much like Billy Zane's career.
1 prolonged (and satisfying) demise of Justin Bieber out of 5