Directed by: Ben Stiller
Written by: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux, Nick Stoller, John Hamburg
Starring: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz
I really love Zoolander; it was an absurd comedy that had a lot of clever jokes and something relevant to say about the fashion industry at the time. Unfortunately, Zoolander 2 doubles down on the absurd factor, with considerably less funny jokes and nothing discernibly pertinent to say.
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
Derek lost his son to child services and never realised that he could get the kid back. Hansel has an orgy of men, women and one goat as a spouse, and all of them fall pregnant, leading Hansel to leave them so he can find himself. This leads them both to Rome to appear in a fashion show, before quickly being taken in by Interpol in order to solve a series of murders committed against pop stars, who all die wearing one of Zoolander's signature expressions. There's a prophecy about a chosen one and the Fountain of Youth, and some stuff involving Mugatu (Will Ferrell) from the first movie. It's ridiculous, and it tries so very hard to be.
Unfortunately, this doesn't always make it funny. While there are a few jokes that got an audible chuckle out of me now and then, most of the movie resorts to trying to get a laugh out of lazy celebrity cameos; Kiefer Sutherland is a member of Hansel's orgy, Sting turns out to be Hansel's father, Neil DeGrasse Tyson shows up for no other reason than that he seems to do that in just about every movie nowadays. There's a sort of forced humour that comes from characters loudly shouting their emotions. I'm sure it's supposed to be funny, but it's literally just characters hammering home how they feel; Mugatu shouting "Yeah! Prison changed me!" isn't funny, it's unpleasant.
The plot is clunky; there aren't really any build ups or pay offs, and a lot of plot points are delivered through expositional dialogue and don't make a lot of sense. Derek gets a message from his dead wife warning him to protect his son and be wary of another character as Derek stares into some water. There's no reason for it to happen, it's just a callback to the first movie that also gets way more ridiculous than what the first movie attempted. The whole 'chosen one' plot line isn't introduced until about half way through the movie, and literally all happens through a massive dump of exposition.
It's kind of fun to see Stiller and Wilson reprise their vapid, idiotic roles again, but their characters are clouded by the rest of the movie.
The Verdict: This is a harmless and forgettable cash grab of a comedy sequel. It's more ridiculous, more obnoxious, and has way more cameos, but there really isn't more to laugh at. I can't say I'd recommend it to anyone, but I wouldn't recommend against it if you were in need of a movie that's easy to have on in the background and comfortable because of its familiar characters
Rating: 4/10
July 28th, 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment