Movie Review: Tropic Thunder
Best comedy of the summer for me, hands down. I’m not a Ben Stiller fan at all, but his writing effort and acting left me laughing long after I left the theatre. It earned my respect and the R rating.
Before the film starts, the audience is treated to fake trailers and a commercial for the principal characters. It completely gets people in the mood for what’s about to take place. You have the fading action star in Ben Stiller, the award winning Australian method actor Robert Downey Jr., the Rap star Brandon T. Jackson, and the crazy comedian Jack Black. Of course those are just the characters they play in the movie.
If you’ve seen the previews, you know what’s going on. A bunch of prima donna actors are dropped off in the jungle to get a more realistic war movie. Like most comedies, things go horribly wrong and they are thrown in the middle of a real life battle. Hilarity ensues as they try to figure out what’s part of the movie and what’s not. That’s pretty much it for the plot. It’s there as a vehicle for the actors to say ridiculous things and get out of hilarious situations. The real comedy comes from the dialogue. The conversations the characters have provide the core of the laughs. Robert Downey Jr. steals almost every scene he’s in. Each and every character gets at least one big laugh, even the smaller roles and cameos. Speaking of cameos, if you haven’t heard yet, there’s a pretty spectacular one with Tom Cruise. I’m not one to speak kindly of Cruise lately, but this role makes me want to forgive all previous blunders and bizarre antics. Seriously, he’s the only other person snatching scenes when he’s there.
About the boycotts and negative comments about its offensive nature: they just don’t know what they’re talking about. The movie is about Hollywood, the Academy, actors, and big budget movies. In fact, the only negative thing I can say about the movie is sometimes it’s too direct in it’s bashing of Hollywood. There were a few jokes that were over my head, and I spend a lot time watching movies. But they still manage to do enough with the physical comedy, sight gags, and other jokes to keep even those not familiar with the Hollywood system rolling in the isles.
If you’re at all a fan of movies and need a good laugh, I really recommend this one. Jack Black needs to do more rated R comedies and Robert Downey just needs to be in more movies, period. I even found myself wishing for more Tom Cruise, which is miraculous, all things considered. So what are you waiting for? Go laugh!
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