Zoolander (September 27/01)

If there's anything harder than making a good comedy, it's making a good dumb comedy. With Zoolander, Ben Stiller has certainly succeeded, and his film is destined to become a cult hit along the lines of Dumb and Dumber and The Naked Gun.

Stiller stars as Derek Zoolander, the top male model in the world. He gained his superstar status through his various "looks" (which all feature Stiller sporting the exact same expression), but an unexpected tragedy (his three model roommates blow themselves up after splashing gasoline on each other) leads Zoolander to announce his retirement. It isn't until top fashion designed Mugatu (played, with absolutely no regard for his appearance whatsoever, by Will Ferrell) offers Derek the chance to lead his new campaign, "Derelicte". But what Zoolander doesn't know is that he is merely a pawn in an elaborate plot to assassinate the leader of Malaysia (who plans to abolish child labor - an action that would seriously harm Mugatu's ability to churn out his fall line).

Stiller's only previous directorial effort was the much-maligned (and somewhat underrated) Jim Carrey vehicle, The Cable Guy. With Zoolander, though, Stiller seems to have learned from that misfire, and created an all-out comedy - going so far as to play a complete idiot. Zoolander, the character, is about as moronic as screen characters tend to get (he has trouble pronouncing the world "eulogy") and Stiller's not afraid to play the dimwittedness of this character for all it's worth.

It doesn't hurt that he's surrounded himself with such an amazing cast; most notably, Owen Wilson as Zoolander's arch-nemesis, an up-and-coming male model named Hansel. Wilson is one of those rare actors that can go from a dead serious role (check him out as a serial killer in The Minus Man) to the opposite end of the spectrum in a silly comedy in a heartbeat. Alongside him are other actors perfectly suited to their roles, including SNL funnyman Ferrell, Stiller's real-life wife Christine Taylor as an investigative journalist, and his dad Jerry Stiller as Maury Ballstein, the owner of a successful fashion agency.

Zoolander is an enjoyable and diverting way to spend 90-minutes at the movies (and it'll make you laugh - which is something most contemporary comedies cannot claim to do).