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Writer's pictureJoe Pace

Favorite Fictional Characters, #210: Derek Zoolander


I don't care if Blue Steel, El Tigre, and Magnum are all the same look. All I know is that Zoolander is so hot right now. Just really, really, ridiculously good looking. Ben Stiller's goofy farce about a male fashion model caught up in silly international intrigue is stupid fun. Owen Wilson's Hansel brings just the right touch of added lunacy, while Will Ferrell is perfect as Mugatu, taking his crazy pills to keep up with the weirdness, but Stiller strikes just the right tone with his vain, vapid Zoolander.


And it is weird. Drug-fueled group sex with dwarves and Marcia Brady, gasoline-soaked male-nipple tragedy, and more concentrated idiocy than the entire Palin household, which is hard to do. Sometimes stupid can be stupid, and sometimes it can be hilarious. The sequel, I've heard, resides with the former, while the original gets it right. I laughed, I cried, I cherished my remaining brain cells. It's not a masterpiece, but it is funny, with a surprising kernel of heart. Dim-bulb Derek means well. And that makes the difference.

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