Title – Zoolander 2 (2016)
Director – Ben Stiller (The Cable Guy)
Cast – Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Sting, Billy Zane
Plot – After a tragic accident, male model Derek Zoolander (Stiller) lives out a life as a hermit crab. When he receives an invitation to one day more walk the catwalks of the fashion world and reunite with his estranged son, Derek decides to make a comeback that will see him teamed up with his best friend Hansel (Wilson) as the two find themselves involved in a nefarious plot that could threaten the very world we live in.
“I miss not knowing things with you”
Review by Eddie on 16/02/2016
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 (especially considering the amount of money on hand to spend on this event), 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 then.
1 prolonged (and satisfying) demise of Justin Bieber out of 5
Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys) 
Drat. I had high hope for this. 😔
I originally did to but this one really was a crumby follow up!
E
> .. as evidenced by a near silent cinema audience I watched the film with.
Yikes! That’s good, huh? I think one of the worst experiences one can have is watching a comedy with an audience with literally no laughter.
Oh you’re absolutely right, so awkward, I would say a majority of jokes here just fell flat on utter silence ha, not a good sight!
E
Definitely not as good as the first but some scenes were quite funny. The beginning was funny when they did the 10 year review the center for kids who can’t read good collapses and zoolander gets his kid taken away because he can’t make soft spaghetti..lol
It certainly had brief flashes of what made the first one so enjoyable but this was an over budgeted exercise in a vanity project gone wrong.
E
You did well to write so much! I couldn’t bring myself to do it!
Ha I know mate it was not easy talking about this trash, I hope I can forget it soon! It felt like a blight on all of the actors careers really.
E
Yeah hopefully it will be quickly forgotten.
A shame, I was looking forward to some good silly laughs.
Me to! I really did not expect this one to be near as bad as it was! Almost completely laugh free.
E
Good go. I just… I can’t… Hahahhaha Seriously, what were you thinking? How did this seem like a good idea? Unless you really went in without knowing squat about it, then I get that. I actually just wonder this about all people that saw this. Mind you, it did allow for a hilarious read, even at the expense of some of your brain cells.
Mate lets just say I couldn’t convince my lovely other half that Deadpool would be a nice Valentine’s Day movie ha.
E
I guess I am only one who found this kind of funny. Not all the jokes land but I did laugh a fair amount at things like the Kiefer Sutherland cameo or Hansel and Zoolander riffing off each other. I guess I didn’t really like the first one so I had very low expectations. No masterpiece but I don’t think it is as bad as people say it is.
Wish I felt the same Smiling but this one for me was hard to sit through.
E
Yeah you are definitely in the majority. I dont get to go to comedies very often because they are usually too raunchy for me so who knows why I laughed. Oh well. I may have just been in a good mood.
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Nice review Eddie. It took way too long to materialize, but at the same time, we really didn’t need a Zoolander sequel.
Yeh mate one time I thought it would be fun but as he day drew closer I was not looking forward to it ha.
E
Dudes why are they making a film a sequel to already bad film. I will not see that one but yet my country bought not only the first one but the sequel as well. They should of giving the money to a donkey and it would make a better film. I ma sorry you had to seat through this shit for 1 hour and some add minutes. Nice review.
There are absolutely better ways to spend the type of money thrown at Zoolander 2 ha.
E
The lack of a Bowie cameo only compounded the utter failure of this shitty film.
And the Neil De Grasse Tyson scenes had me cringing SO. FREAKING. HARD.
Like, this hard:
Ha man this film was so hard to watch in general, what an epic fail.
E
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