Written, directed and produced by Ben Stiller, Zoolander shows off Ben's remarkable talents. He stars in his own production as the affable but not too bright Derek Zoolander, three time winner of Model of the Year with his Blue Steel look. His modeling career seems to begin a downward spiral when Hansel, played by Owen Wilson, wins the title away from him. We are treated with a cameo of Fabio (romance book cover wow guy) presenting the awards. One of the funniest moments of the movie is at the beginning when Zoolander misses hearing Hansel won the award, and walks on stage to accept it.

Behind the scenes, a world wide plot to assassinate the president of Malaysia is being hatched by the fashion conspiracy which it turns out has been running world politics since Lincoln. Top fashion designer Mogatu (William Ferrell) with his aids, including Milla Jovovich, and Balls Models owner Jerry Stiller (real life father of Ben) confirm their pick of Zoolander as the dumbest model available to carry out their plot which will be accomplished by drugging him and implanting deep hypnotic suggestions so that at a music cue he will spring into attack mode.

Christine Taylor is the investigative reporter who at first is skeptical of Zoolander and what the fashion industry stands for, but eventually teams up with Hansel to help Zoolander after David Duchovny, a once famous hand model, informs them of the plot. When Taylor asks him how he knew about it, he replies they tried to recruit him, but hand models are much smarter than regular models, so he figured it out.

The cast of characters is large, including Jon Voight as Zoolander's father, a down to earth coal miner who disowns his son when he sees him in an ad on TV swimming as a merman with a flapping blue fish tail, saying "Moisture is the essence of wetness."

And so it goes from one silly-funny scene to another. There are a lot of cameo appearances like that of David Bowie and no line camera shots such as of Winona Ryder. We see a take off of the most put on, ridiculous features of the fashion world through the clothes and hair and make up styles of the actors.

Wilson and Stiller do a perfect job of imitating the male model profession by exaggerating their tones of voice, clothes, looks. Ben does a great job of portraying Zoolander's Blue Steel look. Neither actor is the handsome guy you would picture as a model, but they do such a good job with their put ons that they seem like they fit their role.

I saw the movie twice which I usually don't if it's a comedy, but I really laughed a lot and thoroughly enjoyed Zoolander because of the plot, acting and colorful sets and ongoing action.

Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older