Today’s Upper Hand is basically a re-creation of Zoolander’s 2001 VH1 Fashion Awards 1 Male Model of the Year competition, pitting the established Stiller, who now plays “serious” roles in movies directed by Noah Baumbach, against the infinitely more chill Wilson.Īnd just as in Zoolander, the faux–New Age, Sting-ignorant underdog deserves the win.

You can like their individual movies, but no one should be pretending that The Secret Life of Walter Mitty or Behind Enemy Lines is coming anywhere close to Zoolander, The Royal Tenenbaums, or even Starsky & Hutch (but we’ll get to that). The Contestants: Ben Stiller and Owen WilsonĮric Thurm: Let’s get something out of the way, up front: Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson are at their best when they’re together. Today’s combatants are Claire Lobenfeld, riding for Ben Stiller, and Eric Thurm, taking up arms for Owen Wilson. At the end, a guest judge will hand down a verdict. It may seem reductive, or even unnecessarily competitive, to put our gentle creators into a squared circle, but it’s a useful exercise in seeing who is doing things right, who is doing things wrong, who is doing things differently, and, of course, who is winning.

The Upper Hand is where we pit unsuspecting entertainers against one another to determine who currently has a greater grip on the hearts and minds of America.

Another Life by Owen W. Knight