No electricity left in this boogaloo

Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller and Penelope Cruz do stuff in "Zoolander 2." Image courtesy Paramount Pictures.

I can see why Ben Stiller would want to revisit his Zoolander character, even after a 15-year break. Derek Zoolander fits right within his acting wheelhouse (Stiller can play three things: stupid, nebbishy, and macho) and the universe the character exists in is bound by the thinnest threads of reality. Strangely though, he doesn’t seem to have much more to say in “Zoolander 2,” aside from some trite themes about fatherhood and getting Sting some work. Otherwise the jokes are remarkably similar to the original, although they lack the whimsy and the charm of the first version.

Since the last film left off, former fashion model Zoolander (Stiller) has gone from the top of the fashion world to a self-proclaimed “hermit crab.” His wife Matilda (Christine Taylor) died when the school Stiller fought to build collapses (it's seemingly his fault for the incident too), and he also lost his son thanks to his utter incompetence as a parent. Best friend Hansel (Owen Wilson) has had his fair share of hard times too: the building accident left him scarred, and he now resides in a desert along with his beloved orgy. That situation falls apart too after the members (including Kiefer Sutherland) inform Wilson they are pregnant. Wilson, as many a man does in movies, runs away from his impending fatherhood, citing his own lack of a father figure growing up.

Fate (or Billy Zane) has other plans for the retired models though. Top designer Alexanya Atoz (Kristen Wiig looking like Donna Versace) recruits them to rejoin the fashion world at a show in Rome, where they encounter Valentina (Penelope Cruz), an Interpol agent working a rather odd case involving dead musicians (Justin Bieber included) and Stiller's modeling past. Also residing in a Rome orphanage is Stiller's son Derek Jr. (Cyrus Arnold), a whip-smart boy with a pretty strong hatred of his father. Everything just seems too convenient for Cruz's liking, and the easy circumstances could be linked to evil designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell), who has spent about a decade looked away in a fashion prison. Shenanigans involving fashion, celebrities, tiny cellphones, fat jokes and lava ensue.

“Zoolander 2” aims to amplify the first film, simply adding more to the quirky little flick that preceded it. More violence, more celebrity cameos, more exotic locations, more ennui, more everything except Ferrell (the movie offers less of him). More isn't necessarily better though, especially when it interferes with the plot machinations and, in the case of the bloody Bieber murder emphasized in trailers, doesn't offer that much in the way of laughs. Momentum frequently comes to a full stop to insert a celebrity into the proceedings, a problem the original avoided by having those moments heighten the film’s surreality, like during David Bowie’s (RIP) walk off appearance. “Zoolander 2” often throws them in for the sake of showcasing Stiller's Rolodex.

“Zoolander 2” is just off, relying too much on Cruz to provide humor (she tries, but just doesn’t fit in the “Zoolander” universe) but keeping pros like Wiig and Ferrell closer to the sidelines. The success of the film, then, depends on the performances of Stiller and Wilson, neither of whom plays a character who is really all that likable; like Harry and Lloyd in “Dumb and Dumber,” their models come across as aggressively stupid. The same problem arose in the first film, although Stiller used Ferrell and Taylor (and the cameos) as buffers to make Zoolander and Hansel look more approachable. Left mostly alone and their artificiality and banality come to the surface, and the film just shambles forward through the first two acts.

What saves the third act is the arrival of Ferrell's Mugatu, who injects a bit of the original's endearing oddness to things. He's such a weird character, so evil and childish and disdainful of his profession because he's the only one who realizes how insipid fashion really is, which makes him fit perfectly into the slightly off world Stiller built for his Zoolander. Most of the best lines of the film come from Ferrell's lack of respect for those around him (he also gets the one good joke about Bieber's death); that “Zoolander 2” falls apart once he leaves the screen is less than surprising and reinforces the idea that one really fun film was more than enough. “Zoolander” certainly didn't need a derivative slog as a followup.

Review: Two out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG-13

Run time: 102 minutes (One hour and 42 minutes)

Genre: Comedy

Ask Away

Target audience: People who remember the first one with some fondness.

Take the whole family?: The humor is puerile enough to appeal to viewers a hint younger than 13, although the graphic language will turn off parents.

Theater or Netflix?: Definitely Netflix if one must.

Is there an issue with Benedict Cumberbatch's model?: I didn't mention him in the review because he appears in the film for all of a minute, but Cumberbatch's character All is problematic. The actor does what he can; it’s the nature of the character as shown by Ben Stiller and his fellow writers is meant for mockery. They treat All like a freak show, a thing that is meant to make people say “ewww,” especially the two lead characters.

Watch this instead?: Rent the first “Zoolander” if you haven't seen it already. A bit of a bust at the time (it came out a little more than two weeks after 9/11), it has very much earned the cult following its endeared due in large part to Will Ferrell's performance as Mugatu and, of course, David Bowie.