Zoolander 2

I will begin by saying that I am one of the biggest fans of Zoolander you will ever meet. I can quote scenes at a time, own a “really really really ridiculously good looking” sweatshirt, and even have the huge movie-theater poster of Zoolander 2 hanging in my room. Also, shoutout to Zoolander (the original) because instead of studying the night before my AP exam, I watched the movie and ended up getting the best score you could get, which is hard to do. Knowing this about me, it is not hard to tell I was very excited about Zoolander 2; I had a countdown going immediately after the release date was known almost a year beforehand. I went to the theater for the very first showing, and naturally, there was no one else there. Was I amused? Yes. Did I laugh? You bet I did. Did I leave with a smile on my face? Of course. Was it a movie to obsess over as I do the first? No. Very rarely is a sequel as good or better than the original, and Zoolander 2 was no exception. There were a few good moments (I especially loved the many many cameos, my favorite being Neil Degrasse Tyson), but it was nothing special. I have read many reviews on IMDb, and they all complain about the “stupid” comedy and “bad” acting, but anyone who knows Zoolander knows that that’s the point of it. Their outrageous idiocy and obviously-fake accents is one of the reasons the movie is so funny. There were a lot of nods to the first movie and repeated jokes, and even very small details, such as Hansel barely looking up to Sting and then bringing him back as a main character, were mentioned. So I can understand why so many people complained about Zoolander 2; they don’t know the first well enough to appreciate the second. Zoolander itself is an iconic movie with a mediocre sequel that will likely be forgotten.