'Zoolander (2001)' has its fair share of funny moments but it's essentially just one long, sort of uninspired joke: our protagonist is a male model and is 'therefore' stupid. That's not to say that the two identifiers are intrinsically linked, rather that the film seems to tie them together - perhaps unwittingly - in a way that almost seems mean-spirited, or at least approaching that. This is through omission as opposed to inclusion, necessarily, but it still stands out as an issue considering that every male model character is also portrayed as, shall we say, less than intelligent. This definitely becomes played-out pretty quickly considering that the gags all stem from this, the film's apparent core principle and, as I mentioned, only real, reoccurring joke (or at least the basis for it). Neither of the main issues I've mentioned, not the near mean-spirit nor lack of innovation, are helped by the fact that the main supporting player is portrayed as being just as comically "bone-headed" as our hero; this doesn't provide a good foil for (or contrast to) our lead and it definitely doesn't help with the film's stereotyping problem. It's not like there isn't any enjoyment to be had and, like I mentioned, there are a few laughs here and there. However, a lack of originality does seep in pretty quickly and the picture isn't all that compelling in general. 6/10
Review of Zoolander
