Zoolander

A fashion spoof draped over the bones of a puerile conspiracy adventure, this vanity comedy fails at every level barring its incidental details.

At times Zoolander threatens to disappear up its own catwalk, but it's often very funny stuff.

This light silly and fluffy satire of the fashion industry targets for a change not the female but male models.

If you're aware of -- and amused by -- pop culture, you'll laugh a lot.

Doesn't Stiller realize that the fashion world is already its own parody?

It's patchy and occasionally irritating. However, it's also occasionally very funny.

Think of 'Zoolander' as the anti-Austin Powers set to the retro-kitsch sounds of Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Wham! Stiller spins gags around his harmless idiot and enlists friends and acquaintances to join in on the fun.

There's an old saying about actors, how one needs to be smart to effectively pretend to be stupid. If that's true, Ben Stiller is a very smart man.

While Zoolander the movie - like Zoolander the model - is a little light on brains, it definitely has its moments.

Zoolander is a perfectly enjoyable film in and of itself, but coming after Stiller's exemplary bleak work on The Cable Guy (1996) it seems slightly disappointing.