September 29, 2001 -- Taking a page out Leslie Nielsen's bumbling hero movies, Ben Stiller is Derek Zoolander, the shallow, uneducated, silly fashion model hero who succeeds despite his limitations.

The roots of this film are buried deep in cinema from Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, the Three Stooges, Jerry Lewis, Don Knotts, Steve Martin, Adam Sandler, Mike Meyers, and many other similar comic figures. All of these people have starred in movies where the comic hero emerges victorious despite a lack of education or intelligence. The hero triumphs because of what is in his heart, not what is in his intellect. The villain of these stories is portrayed as someone with intellect, but no heart. It is easy to see why these stories are compelling. We'd all like to think that basic goodness counts for something.

"Zoolander" is a perfect example of this type of film. Stiller plays a fashion model who owes everything he has to his good looks. He is incredibly dumb and self-centered, as are all of his fashion-model friends. He's also socially retarded. He doesn't seem to have formed any lasting relationships with people outside of work, not even with his own family. Despite all this, the film manages to project the idea that there is an inner goodness lurking inside Zoolander somewhere.

His arch enemy is clothing designer Jacobim Mugatu (played by Will Ferrell of "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"). You Star Trek fans will recognize Mugatu as the name of a large, dangerous, white-furred, ape-like creature featured in the original Star Trek TV series. Indeed, the Mugatu character in Zoolander is large and menacing with hair bleached white. A coincidence? I don't think so. Also in the film is Stiller's father, Jerry Stiller ("Hairspray"), who plays Zoolander's agent, Maury Ballstein. Zoolander's modeling rival, Hansel is played by Owen Wilson of "Shanghai Noon" and Zoolander's love interest is journalist Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor of "The Wedding Singer").

The story has Zoolander trying to stop a fiendish assassination plot by Mugatu, part of a global conspiracy to maintain low wages in the garment industry. The conspiracy is revealed by a mad conspiracy theorist, played of course, by David Duchovny of "X-Files" fame. This is one of many in-jokes about film and the fashion industry. Jokes about the shallowness of those who follow fashion and celebrity are delivered by such celebrities as Fabio, Billy Zane, David Bowie, Cuba Gooding Jr., Lenny Kravitz, Natalie Portman and Winona Ryder. Mostly, these stars appear as themselves, and they are cameo roles.

The story starts slowly with a lot of jokes that miss the mark, but it gets funnier and more energetic as it goes along. Stiller, Owen Wilson and Christine Taylor ably carry much of the story load, assisted by some good supporting actors, headed by none other than Jon Voight ("Anaconda"). Milla Jovovich of "The Fifth Element" is unrecognizable, and not very noticeable as Katinka, a minion of Mugatu. While the story does have a lot of humiliation humor, it also has its heart in the right place most of the time. As Zoolander says in the film: "I'm pretty sure there's more to life than just being really, really good looking, and I plan on finding out what that is." This film rates a C.

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