After watching Mike Myers’ stellar film success with Austin Powers, the retro-’60s British playboy spy, Ben Stiller figured that he might as well see if he could have similar success with his creation. Paramount Pictures was happy to green light “Zoolander” for a number of reasons. Ben Stiller is highly respected in the industry; the film did not require a big budget; and it gave Paramount a forum to promote a sister Viacom company, cable television’s VH-1, which is mentioned prominently in the film.

The film’s main plot is lifted from recent scandalous headlines involving foreign clothing sweatshops that pay slave wages and utilize child labor. Kathie Lee Gifford was embarrassed when the media discovered that her clothing was produced in sweatshops; while Nike CEO Phil Knight has long been accused of having his athletic apparel manufactured in these exploitive conditions. In “Zoolander,” a trendy clothing designer named Mugatu (“Saturday Night Live” veteran actor Will Ferrell in yet another over-the-top vain fop film role) is so incensed that the new Malaysian prime minister wants to end sweatshops that he concocts a plan to have him assassinated by hypnotizing the moronic Derek Zoolander into doing the dirty deed.

Meanwhile poor Derek is depressed that he was denied his fourth straight VH-1 “Male Model Of The Year Award” by his rival, the Fabio-resembling Hansel (Owen Wilson). The tension between the two supermodels gets so high that Derek challenges Hansel to a “walkoff,” the equivalent of a duel, which is judged by David Bowie, who makes it clear that he is having a good time spoofing his image. This showdown is the film’s funniest scene.

Ben Stiller used nepotism as a way of casting his film. Not only does he star in it, but his wife Christine Taylor plays a TIME investigative reporter who is examining the sleazy fashion biz; his famous dad, Jerry Stiller, plays a loud fashion model agent named Maury Ballstein who ad-libs loud Yiddishisms; and finally his mom, Anne Meara, has a cameo as a protester against the evil Mugatu’s business practices. You can’t blame Ben Stiller here. It’s his movie, and the bottom line is that all of these actors enhance the film.

He doesn’t quite have the same luck with the rest of his casting, however. Milla Jovovich plays Katinka, a one-note Russian villainess whose performance was inspired by Rene Russo’s Natasha Fatale in last year’s flop, “Rocky And Bullwinkle.” Jovovich should have looked elsewhere for inspiration. Jon Voigt is wasted as Derek’s coalminer dad who is ashamed of his wimpy son.

As one would expect from this kind of film, the jokes are hit and miss, but more often than not they do make you chuckle, particularly when the self-absorbed fashion world is the butt of the humor. The soundtrack is a hoot, as it features such runway staples as Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Relax,” Wham’s “Wake me Up Before You Go Go,” Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit,” and the Donna Summer classic, “Love To Love You Baby,” which is performed here by the Southern California band, No Doubt.

“Zoolander” is worth taking a chance on.