Barnes at the Movies: Tropic Thunder

I know that I'm over two months too late and most people have either seen this movie or gave it a pass, but you can check it out in the cheap-o theater (like I did) or on DVD in a couple months or so if you haven't seen it.

Tropic Thunder is a movie about the making of a movie. Ben Stiller plays an action movie star in the vein of Stallone/Ah-Nold whose career is floundering due to waning interest in the fourth installment of his action film franchise and a stinker performance as a mentally challenged boy in his last film. He is joined by an Australian, multi-Oscar winner (*cough* Russel Crowe *cough*) played by Robert Downey Jr., whose character undergoes a controversial surgery to turn his skin color from white to black for his upcoming role. They are joined by a drug addled, flatulence based comedian played by Jack Black that is definitely the imaginated love child of Chris Farley and Eddie Murphy. The three are cast in the Vietnam bio-pic, "Tropic Thunder," based upon a book by a 'Nam vet played by Nick Nolte. When the film is having trouble completing, it is decided that the movie be shot in thick jungles of Vietnam with hidden cameras. Hilarity ensues when the actors confuse a Vietnamese drug cartel as actors.

Tropic Thunder hits every note of what it is trying to spoof and satirize. There are many direct and subtle references to Vietnam war films like Platoon and Apocalypse Now in both dialogue and cinematography. The jokes are good and funny. The ha-ha's are not for everyone in that they are far from politically correct (Downey is in blackface after all and it does poke fun at the mentally challenged) and that there are buckets of blood and gore used for comedic effect. One out of every seven celebrities are in this movie, including a lot of people who probably wouldn't be involved in a comedy like this.

I enjoy Ben Stiller as a director and writer, but he essentially plays one of two characters in every movie. He is either an Nacissistic, healthnut idiot (Dodgeball, Zoolander) or a calm, nice, awkward fellow who later in the movie breaks into funny fits of rage (Meet the Parents, The Heartbreak Kid). In this movie, he's the former. It's a good performance, but I've seen it too many times. Jack Black is funny, but overshadowed by Stiller and Downey. He has great comedy potential, but he didn't seem to put a lot of effort into the performance. Downey stole the show with his great delivery, facials, and accents.

Tropic Thunder was the best comedy this summer, which isn't saying much for comedies in the summer of 2008. However, standing alone, the movie is a good, entertaining comedy that will provide good amounts of R-rated fun, but won't share space on the "Best Comedies" shelf alongside Dr. Strangelove, Young Frankenstein, and Airplane. Rent it when it's on DVD and get a few giggles.



However, in the movie's defense, it did make me hate Tom Cruise a little bit less.