Zoolander 2 Review

Zoolander 2 is the sequel to the popular 2001 comedy Zoolander. It once again stars Ben Stiller as Derek Zoolander with Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell reprising their roles as Hansel and Mugatu. The sequel is coming out 15 years after the original which has raised some questions. Would Zoolander 2 be able to re capture the magic from the first one?

No. No it did not. Nowhere near the same quality as the first film. It pains me to say this but Zoolander 2 is not good at all. As a fan of the original I was really looking forward to this film but it was a complete failure. It had none of the heart and good humour from the original with pretty much every joke falling flat. A huge disappointment.

I think something that makes me hugely disappointed in this film is the talent that was in this production. I have enjoyed films from Ben Stiller in the past including the first Zoolander. Between him and Will Ferrell, they have been some of my favourite comedy characters of all time. I have also enjoyed films with the talented Kristen Wiig in it as well. Owen Wilson is ok too I guess. But that is what makes this hurt even more. There is plenty of comedic talent in this movie and yet everything just falls flat. You have seen what these actors are all capable of and know that they can create comedy gold but Zoolander 2 is so far away from it. There was potential for this to be good but it just became another pointless sequel. The new members of the cast weren't funny either. Penelope Cruz was absolutely terrible and was only in the movie for two reasons. I would say get someone funny instead to be in it but the film failed with the great talent it had anyway. The child actor tried I guess but every joke that had to do with him involved poking fun at his looks and weight which was never really funny to begin with. Kyle Mooney played Don Atari who was yet again another unfunny and insufferable character in this film.

The sad decline of Zoolander and Hansel

I know you're probably thinking, you could see that it was going to be bad a mile off. And you're probably correct. But every movie deserves it's day in court and you can never be too sure. But sadly the film just became an obvious cash grab, using celebrity cameos to entice people to come see it. And that's another thing so insulting about the film. Instead of using good writing and jokes, it relies on cameos to try and draw laughs. This fails for pretty much every single time and is possibly one of the cheapest ways to try and draw laughs. It's over reliance on this is one of the films biggest downfalls as it really isn't effective at all. To show how these barely worked, I completely forgot Benedict Cumberbatch was in this film until I looked up images for this post! Just add him to the list of unfunny, not memorable and terrible cameos.

Disappointment all around from all comedic talent.

The film couldn't even make me feel happy to see these old characters back on the big screen. But the magic just seemed to have completely disappeared. The characters weren't funny at all and it was just sad seeing this fail. I really wished that this would have the same effect as the first movie but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. 

The film also had quite possibly the most creepy CGI man child I have seen in a movie. It looked so terrible and very unsettling. It will forever haunt my dreams from now on. 

The only parts that seemed to bring back some nostalgia where when songs like Wham!'s 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' came back on and reminded me of the old Zoolander. I also did get a laugh of seeing a local Scottish hero in Susan Boyle make a cameo appearance. I really did not expect to see SuBo in this film and it was genuinely funny to see her react to the paparazzi like the crazy woman we all thought she was when she stepped out onto the Britains Got Talent stage many years ago. This was one of the only cameos that did in fact work which I'm afraid may of only encouraged them to overfill the film with. The opening action scene was done pretty well as well to be fair. Being perfectly honest that is really where the good points end. 

Gawn yerself SuBo

Final Verdict: Zoolander 2 = D

As a comedy it certainly failed. It was really unfunny except from the SuBo cameo which has really saved this film from being an F. It really is just what we have come to expect from rehashed sequels nowadays. Sadly, Zoolander 2 was a failure. Not worth seeing at all.

So if you have seen Zoolander 2, what did you think of it? I certainly hope you enjoyed it more than me but that isn't exactly hard. Once again thank you for reading, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor