Zoolander 2 is once again directed by Ben Stiller and we get to see Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell and Stiller himself return to their former roles, which is the one positive thing I can say about this movie. The cast is still good in their roles. Derek and Hansel are still the same characters and they play them with enthusiasm and Mugatu is well, OK. Sadly, everything else is pretty much garbage. The humor did not work at all and I just wanted it to be over. After 5 minutes of the movie I was just exhausted. This is a clear example that bigger does not mean better. I am a fan of the original Zoolander and one of the things I liked about that film is that it was just a small comedy with a relatively small budget and it evolved as a cult film. Zoolander 2 tries to be bigger than the first one and it just doesn't work. The first was pretty much about Mugatu trying to hypnotize a male model to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia. That was the plot. Stupid? Definitely, but it worked in its own right. This one's about Derek trying to locate his son, while male models are being assassinated, which actually did not pay off at all in the end.
The movie is filled with unnecessary cameos and there can be too much of a good thing. It happened last year with the Entourage movie and now with this. Like I said, everything is bigger, the scope and even the effects, but what Stiller and his production crew don't get is that what made the original Zoolander so funny and good was that it seemed like they were taking a chance. It was kind of cheap and small but it worked.
The film doesn't work at all but I'll say this: At least it didn't feel cynical. To me it seemed like they were actually trying to make a good film and a funny one but it just did not work. The humor is mostly like people getting hit in the face and stuff like that. The movie also tries way too hard to recall on things from the original that were funny. As a fan of the original and as a moviegoer in general, I would not recommend Zoolander 2. I laughed 5 times in the whole movie. I counted them. And as a comedy that's the main problem with the movie: It was not funny.
1.5/10
