Zoolander 2 (Ben Stiller) [Archive]

Henry Gale

02-12-2016, 05:16 PM

It's just Anchorman 2 and its sad syndrome: Scraping out most of the original movie's resolution to set the characters on weird paths we don't understand (Getting the gang back together! Father-son issues! New love interest that goes next to nowhere! Change of scenery!), having them reiterate most of the key moments as last time, and sacrificing that screentime for any real invention beyond that, and thinking increasing the amount of cameos and spectacle means it's somehow funnier, when that's the opposite. At least Anchorman 2 had bigger, weirder highs in terms of laughs. Whereas this does has a brisker 90-something-minute runtime to not offend in that way, its laugh feel more consistently muted by awkward editing and just lazy writing.

Owen Wilson is stronger in quiet moments than he reasonably should be, and his Who Am I / long-lost-father plot thread might be the movie's slight, bizarro standout, though Kyle Mooney's post-modern, garish hipster designer was by far the highlight for me. I usually love his various schticks anyway, as divisive as I realize they've been in the past and even after talking with friends after here. Wiig is pretty funny but kinda pointless, one-note, and ultimately wasted, making me feel like it would've been funnier if she were uncredited and especially unmarketed a la Cruise and McConaughey in Stiller's Tropic Thunder. And the biggest flub of all, and would've been pretty great if they had stuck to Ferrell's initial act of denying he was in it last year, is having Mugatu show up so late in the movie. It would've made for some semblance of a genuine surprise that the movie is desperate need of throughout that it seems to think constant cameos will sub in for. Also, as screenwriter, how does Justin Theroux manage to waste himself! It's climax is also eerily reminiscent of Your Highness', which just made me think he had that movie on the brain, as it very much made me want to go home and cleanse my comedy palette with it. (Reminder: I'm the one person on this planet that unabashedly loves it.)

It has its laughs every few minutes, but it's those minutes in between that just sit there that hurt the most. If you genuinely want to see it, just wait until it's downloadable/streamable in the slow months it's bound to be released for home.

In terms of comedy sequels / revivals, 22 Jump Street and Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp are beginning to look like miracles more and more each day.

4.2 / 10

Henry Gale

02-14-2016, 10:09 AM

Cinematic equivalent of a Yeezy show.

I wish!
[/has watched Yeezy Season 3 front to back twice, and revisited certain songs from the stream even more]

It is weird though how many moments from this movie have crept back into my memory and tricked me into thinking I might've liked it more than I know I did.

"Please accept my apologies, Derek."
"None taken."

Not to mention the biggest laugh of all, which is the small moment of Hansel sternly saying to Jon Daly's (criminally underused) character, "My mother doesn't work here." Also, the general WTF-ery of Kiefer's miscarriage got a huge guffaw out of me, likely mostly out of shock, since I think it's just so insane (and uncharacteristically tasteless) even for this movie's universe.