Let's Get WET!

As we talk about the wettest scenes in film history in honor of the release of deep sigh Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid, we wanted to start off with a film that explores similar themes of beauty, fighting the status quo, and of course, being a mermaid.

Tyler Clark
May 22, 2023

Good morning Consumers. This is Please Consume, the Film newsletter that loves you more than Ben Affleck loves being from Boston.

Zoolander (2001)

As we talk about the wettest scenes in film history in honor of the release of *deep sigh* Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid, we wanted to start off with a film that explores similar themes of beauty, fighting the status quo, and of course, being a mermaid.

Or in this case… A merMAN!

One of the funniest comedies of the twenty first century and one of the last great studio comedies, Zoolander is a brilliant satirical look at what it means to be an “artist” who is “past their prime”.

It’s also generally a searing takedown of the fashion world and the People Magazine-obsessed culture in 2001.

A Quadrupole Threat?

When writing about Zoolander you can’t get by without mentioning the Ben Stiller of it all.

Not only did he star in it, he also directed, produced, and co-wrote it alongside screenwriters John Hamburg and John Sather. Stiller is such an underrated filmmaker for someone who has so much talent behind and in front of the camera.

I know we’re all freaking out about Severance these days, but years before the Apple TV series Stiller was hard at work on great comedies that are secretly as well shot as they are funny, such as The Cable Guy, Tropic Thunder, and Please Consume favorite The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

What makes Stiller such a talent behind the camera is that he knows how the camera can and should be a part of the joke.

Part of what makes the jokes in Zoolander work is because at all times Stiller is thinking about what the image is doing to elevate the material.

We love Judd Apatow but one of his biggest issues as a filmmaker is the fact that his movies kind of look like nothing. They’re shot almost exclusively in medium shots so that his actors can riff off each other in funny but ultimately meaningless ways.

Stiller on the other hand is so good at planning out his jokes and structuring everything from set to costuming to camera placement in order to get the maximum amount of oomph from every joke.

W.A.M. (Wet Ass Movie!)

What makes this movie, and more importantly, today’s clip, so damn wet?

Well, my friendly Consumer, this film is important to the history of wet cinema in that the catalyst for the film’s plot is because of this wet ass clip.

Pure sight gag, pure goofs, pure giggles, pure gasoline.

Also great to see a young Alexander Skarsgård make a quick appearance. That’s right, the man, the myth, the Northman makes an appearance as Meekus.

So, whether this is your first time with this movie or your millionth, just take a second out of your day to laugh at Derek and his really really really ridiculously good-looking friends to brighten up your day.

Today’s Scene

Stream It

If you want to watch Zoolander at home, you can find it here.

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