Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Zoolander Blu-ray Movie Review

Eugoogooly for a Heavyweight of Fashion

Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 14, 2014

Zoolander is unlike any other movie that Ben Stiller has directed. Its anarchic spirit is closer to Stiller's brilliant but short-lived television show or the collection of fake trailers that opens Tropic Thunder. Zoolander does have a story—a ridiculous story to match its dim-witted protagonist—but Stiller and his co-writers, John Hamburg (who would go on to co-write Meet the Parents and its sequels) and Drake Sather, are willing at any moment to put the story on hold for a physical gag, an extended sketch or a movie parody that's a self-contained little world. When Zoolander's soundtrack suddenly melts into the familiar strains of 2001's theme from Also Sprach Zarathustra, while the characters re-enact a scene from Kubrick's masterpiece, it's hard not to think of the film as Stiller's Airplane!

The character of Derek Zoolander, dimwit male supermodel, came before the movie. (The name was a portmanteau of Dutch model Mark Vanderloo and American model Johnny Zander.) Stiller and Sather created him for a pair of short films shown at the VH1 Fashion Awards in 1996 and 1997 (both of which are included in the extras) and then decided to build an entire feature around him. Hamburg joined the team at a later date, and the commentary the three writers recorded for the 2002 DVD release gives some idea of the many story points the team considered, developed and discarded.

Set in the fashion world of New York City, Zoolander opened on September 28, 2001, which turned out to be seventeen days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The timing may have seemed unfortunate, but in fact it was ideal. Speaking as a New Yorker who saw the film on its opening weekend, I found its farcical silliness to be good and much-needed medicine. The film is so well made, and the fashion industry remains so ripe for parody, that it still works even though today some of the celebrity cameos are likely to provoke a "Who's that?" reaction. But I suspect most people will still recognize David Bowie.

In the topsy-turvy world of Zoolander, the nefarious organization that secretly runs the world is the international fashion cartel, which topples governments and assassinates leaders to serve the ends of its members. Their current target is the newly elected Prime Minister of Malaysia (Woodrow W. Asai), who has vowed to end cheap child labor. The task of eliminating the threat is assigned to New York-based Mugatu (Will Ferrell), a relative newcomer with a secret past, whose reinvention as a doyen of fashion was bankrolled by the cartel. When the new Prime Minister visits Manhattan for Fashion Week, Mugatu is to ensure his demise.

In a parody of The Manchurian Candidate , the weapon chosen by Mugatu and his henchwoman, Katinka (Milla Jovovich, who, according to Stiller, imitated her mother for the role), is the dumbest, stupidest, most narcissistic man they know, one Derek Zoolander (Stiller), three-time winner of the Male Model of the Year Award. So dim is Zoolander that, when his name is not called for a fourth time at the annual awards ceremony, he races to the podium anyway, only to be humiliated in public and on camera, when he has to hand over the award to the real winner, a newcomer and Zoolander's arch-rival, Hansel (Owen Wilson, doing a pumped-up version of the hippie adventurer he would later play in Meet the Parents). An empty vessel, Derek Zoolander can be easily programmed as an assassin. Access is simple enough; Mugatu just books the embarrassed superstar through his long-time manager, Maury Ballstein (Stiller's father, Jerry, obviously having a great time playing the crassest agent on the planet).

Sniffing around the whole affair, and deeply cynical about models and fashion in general, is a Time Magazine reporter named Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor, a/k/a Mrs. Ben Stiller). It is Matilda whose cover story further exposes Derek's shallow, empty life in the aftermath of his defeat by Hansel. This, along with a personal loss so absurd that words can't do it justice, persuades him to retire from modeling until the call from Mugatu pulls him back to the runway. But re-entering the world of fashion puts Zoolander face to face with Hansel, and a confrontation is inevitable. One of the film's most memorable sequences has nothing to do with its assassination plot. It's a runway duel between the aging warrior and the youthful upstart in a gladiatorial contest called a "walk-off". Thunderdome was never like this.

Lurking at the edges of the story is a mysterious conspiracy theorist named J.P. Prewitt, played by David Duchovny, who, at the time, was still appearing as another student of conspiracies, Fox Mulder on The X-Files. Pruitt has assembled the kind of intel that could have come from Mulder's archenemy, the Cigarette-Smoking Man, and his insight turns out to be invaluable, but it takes Matilda to explain it all to Zoolander—several times. Jon Voight appears as Larry Zoolander, Derek's coal-mining father, whose genetic bequest to his son includes good hair and fine cheekbones but no common sense. (Voight's role was originally meant to be larger but was cut down in rewrites.)

Cameos abound in Zoolander. Stiller's mother, Ann Meara, appears as an anti-fashion protester. Christian Slater, Winona Ryder, Billy Zane, Natalie Portman, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lennie Kravitz and Donald Trump all play versions of themselves, as do numerous figures from the fashion world. Several people are unrecognizable under elaborate makeup, including Andy Dick as a female masseuse and, as a nefarious DJ with dreadlocks from hell, Justin Theroux, who has been working on the script for a Zoolander sequel for the last dozen years. Here's hoping we see it soon.

Zoolander Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Zoolander was one of the early features shot by Barry Peterson, who has since built an impressive resume that includes Jumper, 21 Jump Street and its sequel, 22 Jump Street. Stiller says in the commentary that he opted for the wider 2.39:1 format because he knew that many of his shots would involve large crowds and multiple characters, and he wanted the image to "shine", because the central character was someone whose only talent was looking good.

Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, from a Paramount transfer, certainly has plenty of shine to it. With the exception of a brief sequence where Derek Zoolander returns home to his roots, the colors are bright and cheerful and the image often pops with their intensity, never more so than during the "brainwashing" sequence at Mugatu's private facility. Zoolander's life is either a runway or a music video, and the film's style reflects that perspective. (The music video approach to life leads to disastrous consequences in one memorable sequence.) The image has good blacks, which are essential for various night sequences and also for the "walk-off", which is supposed to occur in an abandoned warehouse (and was in fact shot in a derelict industrial site). Fine detail is generally very good, which allows the outlandish fashion choices favored by most of the principal characters, especially Zoolander himself, to be appreciated in all their extremity. (It's as if costume designer David C. Robinson wanted the film to answer the perpetual question of most of us who see runway photographs: "Who wears this stuff?")

A very fine grain pattern can be seen in the image, and there's no obvious evidence of untoward digital manipulation. The average bitrate of 22.86 Mbps falls within the midrange of Warner's typical compression, but there's no apparent artifacting.

Zoolander Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The liveliest scenes in Zoolander's 5.1 mix, presented in lossless DTS-HD MA, are those on the runway, whether the official fashion shows or the "underground" phenomenon of the "walk-off". In either case, the raucous crowd and the loud music fill the speaker array and create the bubble that surrounds Derek Zoolander's artificial world. That bubble turns psychedelic during the sequence where Mugatu transforms Derek into a programmed assassin who can be triggered when the proper signal is given. In these scenes, and many others, you have to appreciate the skill with which Will Ferrell delivers Mugatu's lines in a bizarrely twisted voice that sounds like it's constantly on the verge of slipping out of control, while still making every word intelligible. The other actors doing character voices, notably Stiller and Jovovich, also manage to remain understandable, which, especially with Jovovich's thick accent, is almost miraculous.

David Arnold (Casino Royale) wrote the mock spy score, but the music on Zoolander's soundtrack that makes the strongest impression consists of various pop classics, many of them Eighties standards, that play at just the right moment, either as commentary or as part of the story itself. They include "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood; Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"—which you may never be able to hear the same way again; Loverboy's "Working for the Weekend"; "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" in versions by both The Hollies and Rufus Wainwright; Michael Jackson's "Beat It"; and, in a key moment, Herbie Hancock's "Rockit". They all sound great. For some viewers, they will bring back memories.

Zoolander Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The extras have been ported over from Paramount's 2002 DVD of Zoolander, with the exception of several photo galleries and a music video for "Start the Commotion" by The Wiseguys. Also, the disc menus are a departure from Warner's typically plain vanilla presentation, replicating much of the DVD's lively animation and voiceover, in which Derek Zoolander introduces various parts of the disc. The DVD's back cover called these "Really, Really Good Looking Interactive Menus", but the Blu-ray cover lets viewers judge for themselves.

• Commentary by Writer/Director/Actor Ben Stiller and Writers Drake Sather and John Hamburg: As director and star, Stiller has the most to say about production, casting and performances, but all three participants contribute to the history of the script's long evolution, which continued even during production and into the editing room. One of the many points made in the course of the discussion is that even experienced comedy writers never know what will work. An elaborately planned gag may fall flat, while a simple piece of improvised business will generate an unexpected belly laugh.



• Deleted Scenes (w/Optional Commentary by Ben Stiller) (480i; 2.35:1; 7:59): Some of these scenes are discussed in the main commentary; Stiller addresses each one specifically here. A "play all" function is included.
• Additional VH1 Interviews
• Hansel and Winona
• Moomba
• Additional Mine Footage
• Zoolander Center



• Extended Scenes (w/Optional Commentary by Ben Stiller) (480i; 2.35:1; 8:13): The running theme throughout Stiller's commentary on these scenes is the need to be ruthless in editing. A "play all" function is included.
• Earth To
• Mathilda and Archie
• Alternate Brainwash
• Walk-Off Elvis/Fosse



• Outtakes (480i; 2.35:1; 6:36): Ferrell is hilarious, even when he's blowing a take.



• VH1 Fashion Award Skits (480i; 1.33:1): The film script borrows liberally from both skits.
• 1996 (2:48)
• 1997 (3:57)



• Promotional Spots: These brief spots ran on VH1 and MTV in the weeks preceding the film's release. Each one amounts to a single joke, but some of the jokes are quite elaborate, e.g., the "interstitials" in which Stiller and Zoolander appear side by side and "converse".


• Public Service Announcements (480i; 1.78:1; 2:19)
• Zoolander on Racism
• Zoolander on Dating
• Zoolander on Globalization
• Zoolander on World Hunger
• Zoolander on Literacy
• Zoolander on Education


• MTV "Cribs" (480i; 1.33:1; 1:43)
• Cribs No. 1
• Cribs No. 2
• Cribs No. 3


• Interstitials (480i; 1.78:1; 3:04)
• Ben Stiller / Derek Zoolander Interview No. 1
• Ben Stiller / Derek Zoolander Interview No. 2
• Ben Stiller / Derek Zoolander Interview No. 3
• Matilda
• Mugatu
• Derek Messes Up



• Alternate End Title Sequence (480i; 2.35:1; 2:17): This version of the end titles features a miniature Mugatu dancing across the screen.

Zoolander Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I find something to enjoy in every film Stiller has directed, including the dark and often disturbing The Cable Guy, but Zoolander remains my personal favorite because its goofy spirit always makes me feel, in Mogatu's words, "like I've taken CRAZY pills!" Unlike Tropic Thunder, which has many hilarious moments, but suffers from bloat and occasional self-indulgence, Zoolander maintains the razor- sharp discipline that reveals the craftsman behind the clown. Have Warner and Paramount delivered a really, really good-looking Blu-ray treatment? Maybe not by supermodel standards, but it's enough to rate a "highly recommended".