Review of Zoolander (2001) by Kal X. A — 05 Feb 2016

The brilliance of Zoolander is that as a film, it's completely unafraid and willing to cross the line between funny and flat-out bizarre which a lot of directors and films sheepishly try to avoid as if it's a kind of bubonic plague.

The key here is that Ben Stiller knows how to execute wacky and blend it perfectly with the overall satire theme that radiates from Zoolander. Another point in which it shines and has advantages is that it was the first major film to come out following the unspeakable tragedy that was 9/11 and therefore provided North America with a funny, laughable, and ultimately optimistic film in the wake of such international terror and loss.

Stiller's Zoolander and Owen Wilson's Hansel are very much encapsulations of the very early 21st century's super quasi-modernistic pop culture (you really had to live through it to know what I mean) which when combined with the fashion element of the film, makes it one of the funniest, brightest and most innovative comedies of the 21st century.

Even the more graphic scenes are so exaggerated and pop-y that they are cardiac-arrest enabling funny.