Is ZOOLANDER supposed to be a comedy?

Great, now the losers who think this movie isn't funny can say so on this thred too...

what is funny about this movie: ben stiller preening at the camera? that's not funny.

will ferrel with a stupid haircut?

i love that the "losers" are the once that don't love a preening will ferrell and instantly dated LOL FASHION jokes in a movie aimed at 16 year olds, but ok. i really feel like the loser in this scenario

lol we both said preening

pop a cork in it, que

suck my meaty fuck hammer, history mayne

que you're such a LOSER

Derek Zoolander: Or are you here to tell me what a bad eugoogoolizer I am?
Matilda: A what?
Derek Zoolander: A eugoogoolizer... one who speaks at funerals.
[Matilda looks at Derek confused]
Derek Zoolander: Or did you think I was too stupid to know what a eugoogooly was?

Whiney you're a loser, too

Hansel: So I'm rappelling down Mount Vesuvius when suddenly I slip, and I start to fall. Just falling, ahh ahh, I'll never forget the terror. When suddenly I realize "Holy shit, Hansel, haven't you been smoking Peyote for six straight days, and couldn't some of this maybe be in your head?"
Derek Zoolander: And?
Hansel: And it was. I was totally fine. I've never even been to Mount Vesuvius.

HILARIOUS

I think it's a police procedural actually

um yes it is!

xpost

lol this is p stupid 'debate' either u think ben stiller dressed up like a merman pouting & saying "wetness is the essence of moisture" is funny or ur broken inside

p much all of hansel's lines in this movie are hilarious

um i think i know how to laugh, guys

all i know is I saw this shit in the theater the week it came out and laughed exactly once (during the gas fight)

― brandon stüssy (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, February 26, 2010 3:49 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i haven't revisited it because i don't feel pressure about being ostracized by a bunch of people that think The Corrections is a good book

― brandon stüssy (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, February 26, 2010 3:49 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

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xpost: I want a "both of the above" option. Second viewing really grated, but Owen Wilson still very funny. It's really an excuse for a movie built around that gasoline scene.

perhaps david bowie can be of some assistance?

haha is that a real whiney quote?

so much seething resentment in two sentences

from the zoolander 2 thread

love this movie so much

'listen to your friend billy zane, he's a cool dude.'

Zoolander is a documentary.

That's not a middle ground, is it?

"you sure about this derek? i've heard stories about this hansel kid. they say he's limber. maybe too limber"

in three sentences billy zane makes good on the promise of his early career imo

david duchovny too

Surely one of the options should be for people who think that Zoolander is not a comedy but an incisive comment on the way we live today?

the gas fight was symbolic of greater problems in the world today (see: middle east, bush family, and the over reliance on fossil fuels worldwide)

derek's inability to turn left is a metaphor for entrenched republican opinion in the face of a biased western media

no actually that was just a failed comedic plot device

i love that the "losers" are the once that don't love a preening will ferrell and instantly dated LOL FASHION jokes in a movie aimed at 16 year olds, but ok. i really feel like the loser in this scenario

are you okay with feeling like a loser for misspelling "ones"?

:(

I heard they opened up a school to help people like that

looooool

i think ilx's worst moments all come when ppl argue about what is funny

sadly, some of the best moments happen then as well

we all must endure the rollercoaster of impotent posturing together

whiney u should do a Hipster Puppy where like, there's a dog wearing glasses and maybe a scarf or somethin, sitting by an entertainment center with a bunch of DVDs, and the dog has this expression like "ugh i'm so annoyed!!!" and the caption could be like "upon realizing that the party's hosts had a copy of Zoolander, Pepe (or whatever the name of the dog is) excused himself from the room and did not return, and then smoked a Natural Spirit cigarette" or something XD

Owen Wilson = funny. Ben Stiller and WIll Farrell = not. Therefore by a 2-1 margin Zoolander is not funny.

One thing that I find interesting and that I don't think I've ever seen anyone anywhere mention is that Zoolander is essentially a comedic adaptation of Glamorama. Discuss.

i bet Pret a Porter is funnier than Zoolander

It really isn't.

this ilx revisionism about pret a porter must stop

i bet Pret a Porter is funnier than Zoolander

i thought you said you were going to back away

"Pret a Porter" is a decent-enough film but it isn't actually funny.

One thing that I find interesting and that I don't think I've ever seen anyone anywhere mention is that Zoolander is essentially a comedic adaptation of Glamorama. Discuss.

Ellisnoticed:

In 2005, Ellis stated that he was aware of the similarities, and said that he considered and attempted to take legal action. Ellis was later asked about the similarities in a BBC interview. In response to the question, he said that he is unable to discuss the similarities due to an out-of-court settlement.

i bet Pret A Manger is funnier than Zoolander

Missing space there. Anyway.

lol @ whiney and mr. que

Ahhh. Thanks, Ned. I guess I really hadn't sought out information about that since the first time I saw Zoolander and the parallels jumped out at me. It seemed weird at the time that I was the only one who seemed to notice.

I guess 'satisfaction' was achieved.

this movie is funny, but can suck if you watch it in the wrong mood. Tropic Thunder is worlds better, imho. Agree that Ferrell kind of sucks in it, though. aside from the gas fight, this movie is one of those comedies that fails on the big trailer clip gags and has great small moments (like the group sex scene).

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

This movie tries so hard to be liked, it deserves a big old "E" for Effort and a mostly symbolic hug.

saw it for the first time in years last week and totally expected to be groaning the whole time. still packs tons of lols. hate pretty much everything else stiller has done.

"you read minds?" still got me.. hansel is the ultimate owen wilson character.. even things i had thought were stupid like his scooter cracked me up this time

Its a big, stupid, dumb comedy and thats what I love about it - it's over the top with silly jokes and ridic premises, and to find it unfunny is to want too much, I think. I like it plenty. Mystery Men too.

I enjoy low brow comedies but come on, this movie makes "Billy Madison" look like "The Battle of Algiers"....

hey if it makes me laugh i'm down. can't fight the laughter

My wife and I went to see it after 9-11 because we wanted something to cheer us up. I didn't feel like it really brought the lulz for me at the time. A couple years back at my last job, kids in their mid to late twenties were throwing around quotes from it like it was fucking Austin Powers or something.

I saw this back around 9/11 while I was going through the most excruciating breakup of my life. One by one, everybody left the theater except me. I was really way too poor to justify spending money on a movie. So I stayed, hoping, hoping that it would bring a lol and my 8 bucks would not have been spent unwisely. Sitting there by myself in the back of the theater at the end, I felt like the biggest fool and I felt lonely like never before.

I saw it a couple of years later on Comedy Central or something and it was a little better. The gas station scene, school for ants, etc. made me laugh.

Still, it's not like it's Pootie Tang or anything.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

The unfunny idiots have spoken!

I enjoy low brow comedies but come on, this movie makes "Billy Madison" look like "The Battle of Algiers"....

See now I find Adam Sandler *utterly, utterly* unfunny beyond belief. He's crude, annoying and obvious.

Why is there no similar angst over Dodgeball, which also stars Mr. & Mrs. Stiller?

Still, it's not like it's Pootie Tang or anything.

This is why I will never, ever understand ILX and its relationship with comedy.

Sah da tay!

xp maybe bcz of pudge-faced vince vaughn?

no, it's because no one likes Dodgeball so much that other people feel the need to get worked up about it and flaunt their superior taste. Zoolander is top 5 funniest comedy of the decade for some people, and few things inspire anger in some people quite like other people "overrating" something.

before Zoolander came out and probably after the first one or two times i saw it, i was pretty much coming from the same place as Whiney in thinking it seemed kinda lame, lol male models is such a hackneyed premise, but this movie just holds up really well to repeat viewings and gets funnier over time imo.

didnt vote, hate this movie.

^for when "__ is crap" isn't a good enough option

Finally saw -- a lot of bits that tried very very hard to be funny and failed, but also had at least a handful of hilarious gags, and harmless and likable enough otherwise.

I too recently saw this for the first time. Not GREAT but substantially funnier than it had to be, and substantially funnier than I had always imagined it being.

i gave this a rave review in my middle school's newspaper, the Viking Voice. don't know if there is a way to track down my review today, but i suspect it holds up well.

A couple years back at my last job, kids in their mid to late twenties were throwing around quotes from it like it was fucking Austin Powers or something.

Weirdly I remember reading this but don't seem to have posted the only appropriate response of incredulity that anyone thinks Austin Powers is some kind of comedy high-water mark.

What's actually metastatised from this into wider culture? Crazy Pills, X FOR ANTS, anything else? I think I remember an IlXor saying that they used "Listen to your friend, Billy Zane", to indicate good advice to their partner, but that's a deep cut by any standards.

I think the film takes some time to get into - with someone who's never seen it before something definitely clicks around the time of the gas fight, even though for those already in the zone, the material before is just as good.

I never saw the sequel, but I liked that they got Bieber for it - he always seemed to have taken Hansel's existence as a goal.

What's actually metastatised from this into wider culture?

'blue steel' impressions and maybe just mentions of 'blue steel' generally

i gave this a rave review in my middle school's newspaper, the Viking Voice. don't know if there is a way to track down my review today, but i suspect it holds up well.

― Treeship, Monday, November 24, 2014 12:38 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol @ this

Definitely asking for 'Blue Steel' when taking someone's picture.