For 15 years since the box office success of Zoolander, many fans of the satirical comedy film had high expectations of the sequel Zoolander 2. However, upon its release on February by Paramount Pictures, Zoolander 2 has been met with negative criticism as it became a box office flop, for good reasons.

In the film, the audience is met with an elaborate background in which multiple pop stars were assassinated while having Derek Zoolander’s trademark look, “Blue Steel”. Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) was shown to have lost his fame again as his wife is killed in the collapse of the “Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good” and his son, Derek Zoolander Jr., is taken away from him due to Zoolander’s inexperience in child-rearing. Derek Zoolander once again retires from his career and lives in isolation. Derek Zoolander is then visited and persuaded by Billy Zane to return to the world of fashion shows in order to find his son. However, upon reaching the House of Atoz fashion show and meeting with his friend Hansel (Owen Wilson), Zoolander is shocked on how much the fashion world has changed as he sees the plain-looking, carefree Don Atari (Kyle Mooney) and the androgynous All (Benedict Cumberbatch).  After being ridiculed in front of the stage, Derek is contacted my fashion INTERPOL member Valentina Valencia (Penélope Cruz) who offers to help him in finding his son in exchange for his cooperation. Upon meeting his son, Zoolander is distraught that his son suffers from obesity, and Derek Jr. (Cyrus Arnold) is shocked by his father’s ignorance and stupidity. As Derek Jr. distances himself away from his father, he is kidnapped upon his father’s departure. Derek Zoolander then embarks on a journey to find the villain behind the recent crime in order to save his son. Once Derek finds the main culprit behind the events, he is immediately tricked into freeing the mastermind from prison, who then traps many fashion show members in order to kill them. Zoolander then clashes against the villain in order to save his son and the world of fashion.

Even though the film was full of jokes and humorous occurrences, like any other good satirical comedy film, the film was lacking in its plot. The movie suddenly gave the audience a brief history of events that undid everything that the main character has done in the first movie, such as destroying the building that was planned to be built from the epilogue of the first movie and repeating Derek’s downfall from fame. Paramount Pictures also betrayed most expectations by killing off a main character from the first movie in order to make way for a new one. Zoolander 2 has also failed to focus on a main theme as Zoolander has to go back and forth between regaining his fame and reuniting with his son.

Another flaw in the movie that may have disappointed most viewers is the lack of character development. Even after reuniting with his son,  Derek remains the carefree, ignorant character that he previously was. Zoolander hardly makes any attempts in fixing his flaws, even when his son points out his shortcomings. At the end of the movie, Derek attempts to build another institution without learning from what happened to his previous building. Derek’s interactions with his son are also severely limited and short, and we don’t see any noticeable changes within Derek Jr. until the end of the movie.

Overall, Zoolander 2 may be a good film if you want to get a couple of good jokes and laughs, but if you want to see a proper comedy film that has good development, this movie might not be the one for you.