Plot: What’s it about?
The evil regime of Mugatu (Will Ferrell) must be stopped. You see, he is a fashion expert who just happened to make his fortune by inventing the "Piano Tie" in the mid 1980’s. Ever since then, he has become the world’s leading fashion producer. However, the sweatshops in Malaysia are undergoing a change and threaten the well-being of Mugatu and his empire. Something must be done to stop Mugatu from training an assassin to kill the new leader of Malyaysia. Sadly enough, this plot rivals that of an all-time classic, The Manchurian Candidate; but with far poorer results. We meet Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) who is the reigning VH1 (and oddly enough, VH1 produced this film…how odd) three time male model of the year. But the newcomer, Hansel (Owen Wilson) is threatening the crown that has been held by Zoolander the last few years. Add to the mix that Matilda (Christine Taylor), a reporter for Time magazine, has a thing against male models everywhere and you have a total circus on your hands!
Stiller and Wilson have great chemistry together, and evidently they know it. This is not their first movie they’ve appeared in together. I was also unaware of the fact that this entire movie started as a skit a few years back by Ben Stiller on the VH1 Fashion Awards. Interesting, though it does explain a lot. What we do have here is a talented group of actors, with cameos by some pretty big stars (most playing themselves). Jon Voight plays Zoolander’s father and Vince Vaughn, who doesn’t even have a line; plays one of his brothers. Zoolander has managed to escape from the mining town in Pennsylvania that his father and brothers still work in. To his credit, Zoolander is "really, really good-looking" and has "great bone structure". His signature moves (looks) include "Le Tigre, Blue Steel and Ferrari" which are all essentially the same look. His new "move", Magnum, is what everyone is waiting for and will supposedly re-energize Zoolander’s career. Jerry Stiller plays Derek’s agent, who may or may not be in on the scheme to assassinate the new leader of Malaysia.
Though the plot could certainly use a bit of brushing up, and maybe some of Owen Wilson’s writing talents; Zoolander isn’t all that bad. I tried to expand the plot two full paragraphs, but as you might notice, I had some trouble! The casting is great, and if you don’t expect a lot, that’s best…because you won’t get a lot in return. This is one of those movies that you just have a few hours to kill and is good for some cheap laughs. This movie may be one that is better after a few beers too, but that might just be my personal opinion. Will Ferrell, a staple of what it seems is in every other movie released by Paramount, is delightfully over the top here. Owen Wilson is great as male supermodel, Hansel and the title character played by Ben Stiller shows that he does have some great comedic range. Lastly, this movie was also directed and written by Ben Stiller, who took a beating for The Cable Guy, which was the first bump in Jim Carrey’s career (though I personally liked it). Again, it’s not that bad of a movie, just set your expectations "really, really low" and you’ll be fine.
Video: How does it look?
The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer does look great. With the world of models, photo shoots and such, every frame oozes a great-looking transfer. I feel that the image might have looked a bit better had some of the supplements been on a second disc, but they’re not so I might attribute that to some of the faults I found with the image. Edge enhancement is non-existent, as we might find for a new movie to DVD. The black levels are right on target, though in some of the darker scenes, I saw some grain. Like the movie, there’s not a whole lot to complain about, but we’ve become so spoiled by some of the outstanding transfers these days; that when one doesn’t measure up…it gets raked over the coals. The print used is great, so sit back, relax and enjoy.
Audio: How does it sound?
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack doesn’t pack quite the punch that I thought it might, though it does have it’s moments. I found that the majority of the action was located in the front three channels, which is standard for a comedy (only those war and action movies really test your speakers). The dialogue is very clean and you can hear every syllable of Zoolander’s quiet male model voice. The surround effects, when used, do add to the depth of the track, making this a very well-defined soundtrack. Not the best out there, but certainly not the worst either.
Supplements: What are the extras?
It’s not often that Paramount packs a lot of extras on their discs, but when they do you’d better look out! In addition to the "really, really good-looking interactive menus" which are funny, they describe the features for you and I did have to laugh. We do find a commentary by Stiller and the other writers, Drake Sather and John Hamburg. As we might expect from the track, Stiller dominates it as it’s essentially "his" movie and a character created by him. Sather and Hamburg do have some interesting facts to throw in from time to time, but Stiller is the one with all the information and he puts together a good track here. Some 10 scenes, 5 deleted and 5 extended, are shown with optional commentary by Ben Stiller. I found that some of the scenes should have been left out, but with the movie only running 89 minutes as it was, why not put some of these extended scenes back in the movie? Still, the commentary by Stiller explains some of this, but what I wouldn’t do to see Moby in the film! As expected with a movie of this genre, some pretty funny outtakes are included, but in my mind, tended to paint a picture of Christine Taylor as kind of thinking she’s "all that". It could just be me, but she didn’t seem to have a good sense of humor in some of these outtakes, she seemed all business. Oh well, just an observation.
Additionally, we are treated to the original skits from the 1996/1997 VH1 Fashion Awards. This is where Stiller created the character of Derek Zoolander and now it’s a movie. I found the skits to be a bit more entertaining, but then again, they were shorter. Some photo galleries are also included, which I usually don’t like, but with photo sections for Hansel and Zoolander, I had to check them out. Very funny indeed! A music video "Start the Commotion" by the Wiseguys is also included as are some alternate end title credits, which I preferred to the ones they used in the movie. A trailer is also included which rounds out the features of this "really, really cool disc". With the supplements included, true fans of the movie (c’mon, you’re out there…admit it) will be "really, really happy" here.
