Review of Zoolander (2001) by Poork. — 09 Mar 2007

Watching this movie was a deeply sickening experience that will haunt me to the day I die (and maybe in the after-life). I can't believe none of the reviews I read took the movie to task for the unbelievably naive, stupid, ridiculous, misleading, dangerous ideas it espouses - all the while pretending to be a feel-good do-good movie.

I cannot fathom the self-serving diatribe against 'sweat shops' in developing countries. Sure, it might benefit some of the lower skilled workers in rich countries if we stopped buying from third world countries, but what happens to those third world country workers after the factories close down??? This movie has an even more outrageous and mind-numbing solution, pass a law in third world countries raising pay for everyone! Oh horray horray! How simple! So all the poor developing countries in the world could become instantly rich and prosperous overnight if their government would only pass a law mandating that everyone should get paid a million dollars a day! Wow! I have seen the light! What a sure and solid grasp of economic fundamentals! And why don't all the governments of the world just do this? Surely it would ensure the undying gratitude and votes of the masses that would ensure you stayed in power forever.

You would go down in posterity and people would be naming their grandchildren after you long after you've passed away! So why not? Because they are getting pressure from evil big business? The convenient bogeyman and favourite bad guy of simplistic and morally smug movies from Hollywood.

Oh it all makes sense now! Really, movies have their role as entertainment, but when they get into deep social messages - they usually do more harm than good.