Before seeing, or better yet, making a decision to see Tropic Thunder, I’ve gotten multiple and mixed reviews on the film. Opie & Anthony on morning radio claimed it was some of the best cinema they’ve seen in awhile. Jon Stewart of the Daily Show claimed the movie was so great, that with added Tom Cruise it almost made him convert to Scientology. Now mind you, both these comedians are friends of Stiller’s, but there were also a few more film reviews around the net giving this movie somewhere in the vicinity of ‘ok’ to ‘pretty good.’ With that said, there have also been a number of reviews claiming it’s a crock of shit. Throw ‘em in a pot and out comes the notion “don’t hype this movie to be great like the marketing, but you might think it’s good.”
Not exactly a great review of the film, but that’s how I went into it when my friend asked to see it and I had nothing better to do…and it was great because I did that. Full review after the jump.
The story follows the making of the book Tropic Thunder by actor’s Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), an action star with a fading career, Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), a superb 5 time Oscar winning actor from Australia, and Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), a drug-addicted comedian actor. While making the film, the director decides to throw them ‘in the shit’ of Vietnam itself to get the most out of his actors. Cue comedy.
Marketing likes to do whatever it feels is necessary to get people to see the movie. The story is actually about FIVE soldiers: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., and Jack Black, but also Jay Baruchel (Undeclared, Knocked Up) and Brandon T. Jackson (Roll Bounce). And I mention this because it is crucial. Had Jay and Brandon not been in the movie, it would have been horrible. It alotted for the right amount of screen-time to the largely cameo’d supporting actors list, which is important because too much screen-time of any of them would’ve taken away from the genius of adding them in. Script aside, these two did a hell of a job supporting the big guns of the movie, especially Brandon and RDJ’s back-and-forths on racism.
Downey, as you should be aware, plays a black man in this movie. He undergoes pretty much the opposite of Michael Jackson and gets black skin. He was the saving grace of this film. To quote Jackson:
“When I first read the script, I was like, ‘What? Black face?’ But when I saw him (act) he, like, became a black man. To be honest, he played a black dude better than anybody I’ve seen!”
RDJ’s risk of going ‘blackface’ for Tropic Thunder paid off.
In fact, he might have been the least offensive thing in the movie. The movie itself took on the theme of the film industry, and the corruption and stupidity of Hollywood. In order to achieve this Stiller decided to offend anyone he possibly could. Luckily for him, it worked out to be hilarious. Had Downey’s acting not worked, he may have been literally thrown ‘in the shit’ (next to Michael Richards of course).
A few other pros: Jack Black playing a supporting role. Marketing made him out to be a main, but only because he’s a big name people want to see. Actually, Stiller and RDJ were the mains. Black was cast into the supporting role with his lack of screen-time and lines (and depth) and I couldn’t be happier. I love Tenacious D and some of his older films when his shtick was fresh, but it’s getting too old now for a main role. (Cue in replacement shticks like Raine Wilson.) Also, Tom (fucking) Cruise. I may not hold the same high as Jon Stewart, but Cruise was a pretty genius addition. He plays the studio head for the production of Tropic Thunder…so pretty much the central idea of the film’s take on Hollywood. Yes, everyone is sick of the scientology thing, but c’mon…its been awhile. And while I think about it, I love Cruise. MI3, The Last Samurai, and Collateral were all fucking awesome.
So as you can see, the pros of this movie were really the actors. I guess the script too…although I think in the Jon Stewart interview Stiller mentioned there was some improvising (I don’t really remember to be honest). The script was done by Ben Stiller and Justin Theroux, and Stiller directed. The directing was ok…it looked like all the Vietnam movies before it. Nothing special when you’re just re-filming a war movie…but he does a good job reminiscing Platoon and Apocalypse Now. The script definitely needs some credit where credits due. It was hilarious and filled with some great one-liners. I would need to see it again to remember even half of them.
Bottom Line: It’s a Ben Stiller comedy. Did you like Zoolander? or Dodgeball? Well throw in more action, light-hearted racism, another great cast, Robert Downey Jr., and Stiller not acting as stupid (well, for half of it…the other half he plays an even stupider role…you’ll see what I’m talking about) and you get Tropic Thunder. As I said before, don’t go into it thinking it will be amazing, and it will be amazing.
Cheers,
Matthew Lettini
