Ben Stiller co-writes, directs, and stars in Zoolander, the story of a male model named Derek Zoolander. Zoolander is the top male model in the world, but has two problems. The first is a new male model named Hansel -- someone repeatedly described as "so hot." The other problem is that Derek is stupid -- stupid beyond belief, and everyone knows it and it’s now catching up to him. So, just as he’s about to fall off his throne, he’s vulnerable enough to be in a perfect position to be exploited by an unscrupulous bunch who wants to brainwash Derek to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Why the Prime Minister of Malaysia? Because he’s about to abolish child labor in that country, which could destroy the fashion industry. Derek isn’t the only thing stupid beyond belief here; the story is too.

Stiller tries to take jabs at the fashion industry the same way Kevin Smith took on the movie industry in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. However, both films run into the same problem. They just have too many jokes thrown at the audience haphazardly with only a few delivered successfully. It’s like throwing 1000 darts and hoping one hits the bull’s-eye. Granted, even one of those can make up for ten bad ones (because each of these films has moments of great hilarity), but it gets tiresome. For example, the running gag here is that Zoolander has certain trademark "looks" he’s developed. He’s even named them things like Blue Steel and Ferrari. There is even the new Magnum coming, a look that’s been years in the making and he won’t unveil it until it is just right. The fact that he names the looks is one thing that’s supposed to be funny. But the real joke is that they are all the same. OK, it’s fairly funny the first time they use it, but it’s not strong enough to run over and over through the film. On the other hand, like I mentioned there are some excruciatingly funny moments that could have been played a couple times. During a photo shoot, Derek dressed as one of those toy monkeys with tambourines on his hands. That had me almost falling out of my chair laughing. There’s also a great scene where the two models fight it out in a "walk off." Essentially, both models out-pose each other on a fashion runway.

The misfired jokes aren’t the only place it runs into trouble. Stiller isn’t that good playing Zoolander. Or rather, he just doesn’t seem to play him right so that the audience can connect. The fact that this happened is a little surprising since Stiller has a gift for doing fine comic roles (think about him in There’s Something About Mary). Here he uses such an annoying voice and an equally annoying way of delivering each line that you want to change the channel -- but it’s the theater and you can’t. He’s supposedly a likable simpleton, but most often comes across as an unlikable putz. You can be stupid and likable. Just look at Jay from Smith’s Strike Back.