Have you ever noticed that when a movie is made using a pre-existing/familiar character, the story is always as convoluted and complicated as possible? Why is that? Just look at movies such as The Addams Family, Casper, Wayne’s World, and Mission: Impossible, just to name a few. Well, the film debut of the Ben Stiller character Derek Zoolander is no exception. The film Zoolander has an absolutely insane plotline, which takes a backseat to the barrage of bizarre jokes.

The character of Derek Zoolander (played by Ben Stiller) was originally created for the "VH-1 Fashion Awards", and makes his feature film debut here. Derek is the world’s most popular male model, and three-time winner of "Model of the Year". Unfortunately, he is also one of the dumbest and most conceited people in the world, and has made his fortune off of "looks", such as "Blue Steel" and "Le Tigre". (Which are essentially the same pose!) Derek’s popularity is being threatened by a new model named Hansel (Owen Wilson). Due to this competition, and some other tragedies in his life, Derek decides to retire from modeling, despite the protests of his agent Maury Ballstein (Jerry Stiller).

But, Derek is lured back into the game by the popular fashion designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell), when he chooses Derek to model his new line of clothing. What Derek doesn’t know is that Mugatu plans to use him as a pawn in a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia. (The Prime Minister wants to crack down on slave labor in Malaysia, thus essentially destroying the entire fashion world’s business.) The only ones who can save Derek are plucky Time magazine reporter Matilda (Christine Taylor, the real-life Mrs. Stiller) and Derek’s rival, Hansel. Will they be able to stop Derek from killing the Prime Minister in front of the entire world?

Zoolander is one of those films, which is a bit difficult to digest after the initial viewing. For this film, the difficulty arises from the fact that the humor is both incredibly broad & stupid, while being very subtle at the same time. Imagine, if you will, a Zucker Brothers film crossed with This is Spinal Tap and you’ll get an idea of what this is like. Combine that with the fact that the main character is an absolute idiot, and you’ve got a film which many people may not find accessible. Also, the storyline is very silly. The entire film is a spoof of the fashion industry and the importance, which the media places on models. Every cliché, stereotype and prejudice the world has ever had about fashion models is put on the spot here and deliriously mocked. So, if the viewer doesn’t have a good working knowledge of media aesthetics, or happens to be a male model, they probably won’t find the film very amusing.

The more I watched Zoolander for this review, I found myself appreciating it more and more. The film’s biggest flaw (and co-writer/co-producer/director/star Stiller admits this in the commentary) is that Stiller and Owen Wilson aren’t on-screen together enough. Thus, the first half of the film is a bit weak, but the second half, where Derek must turn to Hansel for help, is much better, as these two play off one another very well. (See Meet the Parents for more examples of this.) So, don’t give up on it if you find it to be boring in the beginning. It takes a while for the film to set up its premise and for the viewer to get comfortable with the characters. This is one of those films where the parts are better than the whole. In the future, I doubt that I’ll watch the entire movie over and over, but there are certain scenes, such as the "Walk Off" and the finale, which I will definitely view. On top of all that, Zoolander is worth watching for the thousands of cameo appearances only. Almost every second you will see a familiar face somewhere in the shot and it would make a great game to just count them all.

Zoolander may have been the first place that I recall seeing a Starbucks joke on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 37 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source materials. The colors look excellent, as this is very colorful film, and the image is never overly dark or bright. The picture shows a nice amount of detail, as we can see textures on objects, and the depth is impressive. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.5 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The subwoofer effects work nicely in the scenes with bass-heavy music. The stereo and surround effects work well, passing the audio from right-to-left and front-to-back seamlessly.

The Zoolander Blu-ray Disc contains a few new extra features. "Breakdance Fight Rehearsal" (4 minutes) shows Wilson and Theroux practicing their very weird battle in a rehearsal space. "Alternate Brainwashing Sequence Storyboards" (5 minutes) shows us a very different look at this scene which has Derek swimming into his own brain. The MUSIC VIDEO for the song "Start the Commotion" by The Wiseguys (3 minutes) is also included here.

The remainder of the extras are carried over from the original DVD release.

We start with an AUDIO COMMENTARY featuring Stiller, and co-writers Drake Sather and John Hamburg. This is a fun and entertaining commentary, although, I must admit, none of the speakers sound very excited about what they are doing. (Perhaps this is a response to Zoolander’s box-office performance.) This group speaks consistently throughout the film and gives a nice overview of the production. Of particular interest are their comments on casting and the tidbits thrown out about the original script for the film, which would have been an extravagant big-budget film. Despite the fact that this isn’t the most exciting commentary ever, it is very informative. We next have five deleted scenes, which can be viewed with or without commentary from Stiller. Each of these scenes are actually pretty good, but the last one, featuring one of the film’s best cameos is absolutely hilarious. Following this are five extended scenes, which, again, can be viewed with or without commentary. While not as good as the deleted scenes, there are some gems here, including a longer version of the "Walk Off". There is a six-and-half minute outtake and gag reel presented here which features some funny moments. Owen Wilson has a line here, which had me on the floor. Next, we have the original Zoolander skits from the "VH-1 Fashion Awards". The 1996 skit runs for nearly three minutes and simply introduces Derek and his "looks". The second skit, from 1997 (four minutes), has Derek doing an infomercial for the "Zoolander University of Modeling for Men." What makes these two shorts interesting is the amount of material here that made its way into the feature film. In a similar vein is the "Promotional Spots" section. This features six Public Service Announcements featuring Derek, which were actually TV spots. Then, the film shows how it used its MTV connections with three mock "MTV Cribs" TV spots, in which Derek’s loft is profiled. And finally we have six Interstitials, which are basically on-screen interviews with the characters from the film. The best of these has Derek arguing with Ben Stiller. Strangely, the theatrical trailer for Zoolander is not offered here. Finally, we have an alternate end title sequence, which offers clips from the film along with the end credits, as opposed to the simple black screen which appears in the finished film. The still gallery offers nineteen production photos, along with the glamour shots of Derek and Hansel, which are seen throughout the film.