February 24, 2004
ZOOLANDER?:
‘Am I on Crazy Pills?’ Zoolander, a Muse For Bonehead Age (Ron Rosenbaum, Feb. 24, 2004, Jewish World Review)
I could be wrong, but I think the number of Zoolander aficionados out there is approaching the critical mass required to tip it over from stupid guilty pleasure to Spinal Tap-like cult status. It plays enough on cable, and it's one of those comedies that grows on you. Not as good as Spinal Tap (really, what is?), but up there with Waiting for Guffman...with what has become my all-time super-fave Zoolander catch phrase. It's the one delivered by Evil Fashion Guru Mugatu, Will Ferrell's great role.It's the moment when Mugatu denounces Derek Zoolander, the moronic male model (played with steel-jawed stupidity by Ben Stiller) who's become famous for his signature "Looks": "Blue Steel," "Le Tigre" and "Ferrari." The embittered Mugatu cries out with helpless rage, "They're the same face! Doesn't anyone notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills …. I don't know whether it was a subsurface catch phrase before Will Ferrell uttered it (the movie was released in September 2001) and he just propelled it into mainstream popular consciousness, or whether he (or the screenwriters) invented it, but it seems like it's a phrase that's found its moment: 3,400 Google entries so far, with variations like "Are you on crazy pills?" and "What am I, on crazy pills?"
I guess it's not hard to figure out why this moment in history precipitated "crazy pills" into pop argot. Certainly it had something to do with the way Will Ferrell did it so perfectly, while faintly mocking it at the same time. But these last two years have been a kind of Bad Dream — History on crazy pills, you might say. So the timing was right.
And such "verbal icons" — as they used to call them in the Yale English Department (where the catch phrase "verbal icon" was invented) — as "crazy pills" don't get propelled into popular linguistic consciousness unless they strike a chord, expressing or echoing something deeply felt in the collective unconscious in some new way.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills …. It's that feeling you get when everyone around you seems to have willingly bought into something that seems like a mass delusion to you.
These are not the first fond words we've heard for what looks like unwatchable dreck--can anyone make a compelling case for watching this movie? Posted by Orrin Judd at February 24, 2004 10:30 AM
There is a slow-motion scene where the male models cavort at the gas station, spraying gasoline everywhere. A play on sexy, water sports, I guess. Of course, one of the morons lights a cigarrete and blows them all to kingdom come.
Posted by: Brandon at February 24, 2004 11:03 AMIt looked like drek that might be worth watching if you were willing to lose three hours on a gamble.
Posted by: Chris at February 24, 2004 11:27 AMWell, it is hilarious, for one.
Posted by: Peter B at February 24, 2004 11:30 AMI agree with Peter B. The movie is hilarious, especially if you've ever lived in Manhattan, or been around any of the fashionistas.
Forget the "crazy pills" line. For my money the absolutely best line is, "merman, not mermaid." It cracks me up every time.
Posted by: H. D. Miller at February 24, 2004 11:57 AMAny movie with Ben Stiller and one of the Wilson brothers is worth the time. -The Royal Tenenbaums- has both Wilsons and is comic gold. (What's more, the wife agrees with me on that one.)
Of course the upcoming -Starsky and Hutch- may make my claim untenable.
Posted by: Anthony Perez-Miller at February 24, 2004 12:08 PMHD:
In case you hadn't noticed, the closest the Brothers come to fashion is combing over our back hair to cover bald spots on our scalps.
Posted by: oj at February 24, 2004 12:09 PMHD (by the way I'm a big fan of your blog)--
"Merman not mermaid" cannot compare to
Matilda: I developed bulimia in college.
Zoolander: You can...read minds?
It is a funny movie, would have been better if an hour shorter.
Posted by: Brian (MN) at February 24, 2004 12:14 PMStiller's talents were wasted. There are some funny moments. A much better Stiller movie that deserves cult movie status is "Mystery Men".
Posted by: Robert Duquette at February 24, 2004 12:17 PMOJ, I had the same thoughts as you about it before I saw it. But it really is very funny. It's worth seeing at least once. And if you wanted to, you could probably weave some sort of anti-intellectual parable out of it, if that would make you feel better about wasting a couple hours of your life.
Posted by: Timothy at February 24, 2004 12:23 PMMystery Men was dreck. The Specials was far better.
I really liked Zoolander, for the aforementioned gas station sequence and Mugatu's fashion line based on the homeless. Although the HBO Ali G episodes showed the fashion industry is beyond parody.
Posted by: M Ali Choudhury at February 24, 2004 12:25 PMZoolander is annoying for Ben Stiller's performance. Very cartoonish while Owen Wilson is perfect. Will Ferrell is kind of funny, but also a bit too over-the-top for my taste.
But if you rent the DVD, I recommend the commentary track. It's pretty interesting since Stiller was also the writer.
Posted by: NKR at February 24, 2004 12:36 PMI liked Mystery Men quite a lot, but that may have been a function of low expectations and familarity with the parodied genre.
Posted by: Mike Earl at February 24, 2004 1:16 PMAlright, I rented it, now I just have to get The Wife to shut off the Food Network for more than a nanosecond...
Posted by: oj at February 24, 2004 1:53 PMOJ:
Other than a completely gratuitous sex scene, the movie is full of side splitters. Another word for you lexicon: Eugoogoly.
There is no such thing as a gratuitous sex scene when you get to my age. Unless, you have to see Jack Nicholson and Diane Keeton naked.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at February 24, 2004 4:39 PMThanks so much for ruining my day with that mental image.
Posted by: Timothy at February 24, 2004 6:10 PMDavid Bowie.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at February 25, 2004 6:46 PM