If you would ask me to create a top 50 of guilty pleasure movies, than chances would be that the original Zoolander would end up pretty high on that list. There is a reason I own a “Derek Zoolander Center for kids who can’t read good” T-shirt and even was thinking about buying a Mugatu one as well. It was a movie with silly humour which I thoroughly enjoyed. Whether that’s the scene in which a couple of models are fighting it out with gasoline in a gas station or the whole concept of Blue Steel. So when I heard about a sequel I was quite excited, interested to see whether Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell were able to recapture the magic of the original. Turns out this wasn’t the case.
Derek Zoolanders life is no longer what it used to be. His reading center for kids collapsed, killing his wife. He also is no longer allowed to take care of his son. He decides to get out of modelling and live a life in isolation, outside the city. When he is visited by Billy Zane he is convinced to get back to work because it might enable him to once more take care of his son. Meanwhile various pop stars are getting killed which all have sent a picture during their last moments doing Blue Steel. At Fashion Interpol Valentina Valencia (Penélope Cruz) is put on the case and she tracks down Derek Zoolander. Together with Hansel they try to find out who is behind the assassinations. They find information which shows that they are a small part of a much bigger plan and the question is if they will be able to find out more and stop it.
The feeling I got while watching this film was that this no longer was a Zoolander movie. Ben Stiller was pretending to be Derek again, but he didn’t manage to convince as the character didn’t feel the same. Will Ferrell still was enjoyable, but this movie felt more like a product where you are supposed to get your entertainment from the boatload of cameos. I don’t have any issues with bizarre stories in comedies, but the jokes that surrounded it almost all missed their target. So making a sequel to a successful comedy might not always be a good idea, just like Dumb and Dumber To showed. It just seems hard to stay true to the essence of the original. I’d rather would have watched that again than rather than this very disappointing sequel.
It was not as good as the original but the original was so bloody perfect, it would have been impossible to duplicate. I did like the obvious giant stab at cultural taboos and the faux sérieux of a self indulging industry and their “truths”….I loved it for what it was but you are ultimately fair and correct on your rating!
Ill-conceived but probably inevitable. I can’t say I wanted a Zoolander sequel and it’s unsurprising to see it fail to live up to the highs of the first.