- Ben Stiller's Zoolander contains exactly one laugh-out-loud moment. In that single memorable scene, the eponymous male model Derek Zoolander (Stiller) mistakes a small-scale replica of a literacy school for the real thing. "How can we be expected to teach children to learn how to read if they can't even fit inside the building?!" he exclaims. It's a good gag, but when a 90-minute film features only one such moment, it's difficult to consider it a success. When it goes on to completely waste the talents of David Bowie, Patton Oswalt, Garry Shandling, and Jon Voight, suddenly 'unsuccessful' isn't a strong enough word.
- The story hinges around the cutthroat world of modeling and the vacuous personalities that inhabit it. In addition to Zoolander's dim bulb, we meet up-and-coming star Hansel Macdonald (Owen Wilson), a mogul known as Mugatu (Will Ferrell), and an agent named Ballstein (Jerry Stiller). Naturally, there is a humdrum love interest (Christine Taylor) and cameos by everyone from Billy Zane to David Duchovny to Winona Ryder. Nominally, there is also a plot having to do with the Malaysian prime minister, child labor, and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, but I recommend ignoring this completely. The film's uncontroversial central thesis seems to be that models are vapid dumbbells. If you enjoy Zoolander, modeling may be the career for you.
- There are countless cameos, including many from real models-slash-actors.
- When the film was released in late September, 2001, it was controversial for having digitally removed the World Trade Center from background shots.
