[Movie Review] TROPIC THUNDER
Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder is not only his most audacious movie as a director (Reality Bites, The Cable Guy and Zoolander were hardly heavy on gunfire!) but it is also a film so assured of its own concept, so confident in how to execute it and so meticulously put together that it refuses to allow you the viewer walk away un-entertained. It is, if nothing else, the most relentless comedy you will find this year.
The poster, the marketing, even the film itself will all try and sell you this flick as being all about Stiller, as star, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jnr. This is not the case. Stiller and Black are playing characters that any talented comedien could play. Hell, the film would have been far more interesting if the likes of Tom Cruise had portrayed Stiller’s Tugg Speedman (more on Cruise a little later, by the way). Tropic Thunder is, just like Kristina said, all about Downey Jnr in yet another sublime performance. Anyone could have hit the comedic beats done by Stiller or Black. NOBODY could do what Downey Jnr does in this film!
When Downey Jnr is not stealing the entire movie left, right and centre, the film is elevated to levels of brilliance by three genuinely brilliant performances by Danny McBride, Nick Nolte and Tom Cruise. Yes… Tom Cruise!
I did initially question, when reading Kristina’s review, as to why she didn’t pay mention to Steve Coogan. A Yank-centric slant perhaps? Now I understand. It’s because Coogan appears, goes and doesn’t do alot in between. Certainly not enough to warrant mention. Buzz suggests that the “behind-the-scenes-of-the-behind-the-scenes” in-joke movie Reign of Madness is where Coogan truly excels.
Everybody is talking about the “barely recognisable” Tom Cruise ‘extended cameo’ in which he plays the foul-mouthed studio executive, Les Grossman. So, let me join in. First of all, “barely recognisable”? Bullshit! It’s very much Tom Cruise. Only with a bald cap and a wig! Second of all, he is fuckin’ hilarious! Seriously. That dance over the end credits? You’d think it would be an utter car-crash. Not so. Then there’s the fact that he knows exactly how to play a good line, or steal a scene with just a glance. It’s an extremely funny performance in a movie littered with them. And the fact that Cruise is surrounded, for the majority of his scenes, by the always brilliant Bill Hader (coming second to Danny McBride for having a helluva good year in the comedy stakes!) and Matthew McConaghey. Again… Yes, McConaghey! You’d think he’d stand out like a sore thumb amongst all this talent, but the ’shirtless wonder’ does some really likeable stuff here. There’s no getting around the fact that he’s held at the centre of the movie’s one and only complete comedic misses: the finale’s TiVO gag. But overall he’s good fun, doing his best with a role very much intended for Owen Wilson.
Then there’s all the “controversy”. The whole ‘racism’/'learning disabled’ stuff. I caught this film a good few weeks back and, thankfully, I was held to an ‘embargo’ regarding publishing my review because it gave me enough to process exactly what I thought and what my opinion is on this particular “fragile” subject. Well… as some one who works with people with profound learning disabilities for a living, and is therefore understandably protective of slights against people of this nature, let me just say this: Anyone campaigning against this film over the whole “retard” issue, is an idiot. Plain and simple. There’s not a gag in this film in the least bit directed at people with learning disabilities.
Every gag of that ilk, and the same goes on the subject of “race”, is directed squarely at the movie industry’s insepid attitude to both subjects, not the subjects themselves. It’s all about the actors, directors and industry types who think in such small-minded ways. Not about the people themselves. If Stiller, as director and co-writer, is guilty of anything relating to this it is that he overplays the gag to the point of walking close to the danger line. The best route would have been to not use the word “retard” as excessively as he does, but to play on variations of it depending on which character is speaking.
In terms of flaws for the film overall though, there really isn’t that many. Okay, it feels and plays a lot longer then it actually is and the Oscar Ceremony climax is sort of smirk worthy, rather than rauciously laugh-out-loud. Which is a shame because it falls almost directly on from the embarrassing TiVO gag, and it is kind of betrayal of all the good fun that has gone before. Thankfully, they’ve pulled Mr Cruise back for his “gangster dancing” (what can I say? I loved it!) over the end credits and you end up going out on a crazy high with the biggest grin possible!
Tropic Thunder is very, very funny (even when you take out the controversial humorous elements, it is still hilarious!) and is a fantastic satire of the movie industry and movie-making in general. On top of that, it’s surprisingly impressive in the action stakes – the tongue-in-cheek opening movie-within-a-movie is nothing if not thoroughly involving, even with its intended awfulness on show! From it’s fake advert and trailer pre-studio logo “false start” right the way through to Cruise’s ‘dance’ over the end credits, this is just great entertainment! I cannot, at the moment, recommend a better night out at the cinema then a screening of this film!
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10 Responses to “[Movie Review] TROPIC THUNDER”
Rain of Madness is pretty ****ing funny. You get more Coogan and more Downey.
I loved this movie, and I LOVE Downey SOOOOO very much. He kills with just a look or a smirk on his face. I laughed harder at his “script! book! spit that shit out!” outburst than in any film this year. I love that guy, and I’m so happy he’s gotten his life together. I’m glad he’s getting so much POSITIVE press for a change.
The Cruise dance was fun, simply because I knew both of the songs they used, as did my friends, and we were ****ing JAMMING in the theater. That being said, he wasn’t as rioutously funny as some people led me to believe prior to watching it. It felt more like a gimmick than a performance.
And the Tivo stuff was garbage.
The first dance was alright, the second one over the credits was pointless over kill.
I thoroughly agree with you about Downey Jnr. And it’s only going to get better for him isn’t it because he’s making excellent, interesting choices that are going to come to fruitation in the best ways possible.
I mean, could you imagine – if they land together – a better triple bill over one particular summer silly season, in the hands of one particular actor then watching IRON MAN 2 / COWBOYS vs ALIENS / SHERLOCK HOLMES (even though Jude ****ing Law will be in it!)?
Re the “dance” Grundy, I’m the complete opposite to you – which is often the case with me and you, and one of the major reasons I like seeing you in the talkbacks. Seriously. I thought the first dance was okay but what made it entirely funny was Bill Hader’s stuff in the background. The final dance was what absolutely destroyed me!
I thought that was hilarious!
What was the song over the final dance though? I’d like to get a hold of that!
The final one was “Get Back” by Ludacris. The first one was “Low” by Flo Rida.
Pretty much, Hader bouncing up and down in the background is what made the first dance work for me.
The second time was just pointless.
I’m going to download that Ludacris song, cheers Kris!
I get ya Grundy but they worked as two separate “funnies” for me! What’s it going to take to get Bill Hader his own movie man?
That guy is having a stellar year!
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