The pre-release of this weekend's pop culture-filled Super Bowl Halftime commercials continues, and the latest from Pepsi Zero Sugar is the best I've seen yet. The soda company went the celebrity guest route with not just one but two versatile actors getting in on the bit: Steve Martin and Ben Stiller each star in separate ad spots for the new and allegedly improved sugar-free soda, with a special appearance by Derek Zoolander.
The gimmick for the commercial is simple, and actually pretty self-aware for a drink that honestly probably wouldn't make the Family Feud board if the category was America's favorite sodas. We get to see Stiller and Martin act their way through specific feelings, showing how great they are at conveying joy and disappointment and even the feeling of being freezing cold. The idea is that they're such great actors that we have no way of knowing whether or not Pepsi Zero Sugar is actually as good as they say, so we'll have to try it ourselves. Clever stuff, Pepsi. It won't work on me because aspartame gives me migraines, but it's a good hook.
More importantly for movie and comedy fans, it's a chance to see two great veteran actors pull off both the sincere emotions and great comedy. Martin does surgery on a collie and calls some kids losers when he beats them at board games, while Stiller does some more overt homages as he ends up in a "The Revenant"-style blizzard and praises an R2-D2-like droid in space. Martin's examples are more understated but still play into a level of pure comedy he doesn't often get to access on "Only Murders in the Building," while Stiller mostly parodies tentpole genre films.
Zoolander Even Makes An Appearance
Stiller also gets kicked in the face by Rachel Dratch, and it's a reminder that A) Rachel Dratch should be in everything and B) the "There's Something About Mary" and "Zoolander" star is a great physical comedian even if he's spent most of his time recently behind the camera directing and producing on projects like the phenomenal sci-fi show "Severance." Stiller even throws a little Zoolander in at the last minute, turning in a dressing room chair to reveal the character's spiky hair and model pout as he says, "The real is real." So true!
While I think pretty much no Super Bowl commercial can ever be worth the reported $7 million that spots sold for this year, this one gets a lot right by mostly letting these familiar favorites do new things instead of relying entirely on our nostalgia for their old characters.
Hopefully, Sunday's big game will still include a few surprises during the commercial breaks, but several other ads from this year are already online, including one for Rakuten that sees Alicia Silverstone return as Cher from "Clueless," and another in which Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, and Raymond Cruz parody "Breaking Bad" with Popcorners chips in place of crystal meth. Yes, you read that right. You can catch Super Bowl LVII on Fox at 6:30 pm ET/3:30 pm PT this Sunday, February 12, 2023.
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