Movie review: ‘Zoolander No. 2’ crew will have you in stitches

Ed Symkus More Content Now
Hansel, Derek, and Valentina get mixed up in a Roman fashion mystery. Paramount Pictures.

“Zoolander No. 2” is a big, dumb, silly, ridiculous movie that seems to have been made for people with the intelligence level of Derek Zoolander, who is an imbecile. And it’s funny, often very funny. Even when the verbal and sight gags come so fast that more than half of them fall flat, it’s funny.

It’s reminiscent of that other big, dumb, etc. movie ... “Zoolander,” which came out almost 15 years ago. This one, after a series of TV news spots that chronicle the bad-luck turns of events that were heaped upon competing fashion models Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) as well the villainous Mugatu (Will Ferrell) over the years, picks right up and throws them all together again.

But first, in the first of uncountable cameo appearances – since this is movie about fashion, it makes total sense to have quick visits by, among others, Tommy Hilfiger, Anna Wintour, Kiefer Sutherland and Willie Nelson – we’ve got Justin Bieber to deal with.

It opens with Bieber, on foot, being chased by a couple of murderous motorcyclists, and finally being gunned down, in a goofy nod to the “Bonnie and Clyde” death scene, but not succumbing till he makes one last egotistical post (or is it a clue?) on social media. Dumb, silly, funny.

A chain of events is launched that brings the now-bearded Zoolander out of self-imposed hermit-dom in “extreme northern New Jersey,” lures slightly disfigured and partial-mask-wearing Hansel away from the orgy life, and reunites the two fallen supermodels in Rome, under the watchful eye of Valentina (Penelope Cruz), who heads up the Global Fashion Division of Interpol, and is trying to figure out who’s been killing the pop stars of the world (Bieber was the latest). The fact that these two guys hadn’t even spoken since both were affected by a long-ago book-related tragedy means that ... well, it doesn’t really mean anything.

There’s nothing in this movie that isn’t ridiculous, from Zoolander’s estranged son regularly eating eight meals a day, to the over-the-top acting and accent of the unrecognizable Kristen Wiig as the heinous Alexanya Atoz; from the idea that the once-stupid Derek Zoolander has gotten far stupider, to the fact that the newly tattooed and beefed-up Mugatu is straightjacketed, chained, and stuck forever inside the walls of the Fashion Prison for the Criminally Insane (Oh, come on; no, he’s not; there’s a daring escape!).

This is a film filled with mugging performers, often inane dialogue, good productions values (gotta give it that), and the feel of an accomplished director (Stiller has again done well behind the camera as far as getting the story told). The shtick is practically non-stop, the chemistry between Stiller and Wilson that made the first film work is still flowing, and all of the players – especially the proudly and self-deprecatingly busty Cruz – give it their all.

But when the film is over, and you think about it, and you talk about it, it quickly becomes clear that none of it makes a lick of sense. And that’s OK, because it’s funny.

Ed Symkus covers movies for More Content Now.

ZOOLANDER NO. 2

Written by Justin Theroux, Ben Stiller, Nicholas Stoller, John Hamburg; directed by Ben Stiller

With Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz, Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, and a whole bunch of cameos

Rated PG-13