Zoolander (2001) from Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

In general, the film isn't a great comedy, but it has some moments of loony inspiration. Think of it as Dumb and Dumber Lite.

I enjoyed Stiller's attempt to find his roots by returning to his coal mining family and attempting to return to his family's work down in the coal mines, thus providing a constant source of embarrassment to his tough-ass father. ("Thank god your mother never lived to see her son as a mermaid"). Jon Voight is the dad, and Vince Vaughn has an uncredited cameo (no lines!) as one of Zoolander's brothers.

Vaughn wasn't the only cameo player, by any means. About 100 people from the fashion and entertainment industries play themselves, ranging from David Bowie to Billy Zane to Winona Ryder to Natalie Portman to Donald Trump and a zillion runway models. Milla Jovovich, a former model herself, is almost unrecognizable in one of the secondary leads, as an evil Russian. David Duchovny is completely unrecognizable except for his voice.

The film got 65% positive reviews, but nobody seemed to be very positive. Most of the critics felt about the same as I did, that it was nothing special, but was good for a few quick laughs.

The most interesting thing about the film is that Roger Ebert gave it one star. His primary objection was the film's cavalier attitude toward the Third World, particularly because it focused on an Islamic country. He argued that this condescension is the very attitude that makes this part of the world ripe for exploitation by anti-American activists.

I thought he meant well, but his point was superficial. The film doesn't make fun of the third world, but rather the capitalist exploitation of it by the developed countries. In the storyline, the prime minister of Malaysia wants to end the sweat shops which produce an endless stream of low-cost clothing for the Western countries. The powerful magnates in the clothing industry intend to assassinate him, because their profit stream depends on the maintenance of the low-wage sweat shops. In fact, I thought the film made a fairly good point, and wasn't so very far from reality. In real life, the clothing barons might not assassinate the guy, but you can bet they have lots of money invested in his political rivals!