Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 11/18/2008 Run time: 120 minutes Rating: Ur
It's not really a knock to say that nothing in Tropic Thunder is funnier than its first five minutes, so sly that--especially for people watching in theaters--you don't realize right away they are the opening minutes of the movie. This outrageous comedy begins with a series of fake previews, each introducing one of the main characters in the film-proper (not that there's anything proper about this film) and each bearing the familiar logo of a different motion picture studio: Universal, DreamWorks SKG, et al. Such playing fast and loose with corporate talismans verges on sacrilege, but it's an index of how much le tout Tinseltown endorses the movie as a demented valentine to itself. The premise is that the cast of a would-be "Son of Rambo" movie shooting in some Southeast Asian jungle get into a real shooting war with drug-smuggling montagnards. Don't ask--though the movie does have an answer--why such highly paid, usually ultra-pampered personnel as superhero Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Mozart of fart comedy Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), hip-hop artist Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), and five-time Oscar-winner Kirk Lazarus from Aus-try-leeah (Robert Downey Jr.) should be running through the jungle unattended and very vulnerable. It matters only that the real-life cast has a high time kidding their own profession and flexing their comedic muscles. Bonus points go to Stiller for co-writing the script (with Justin Theroux) and directing, and to Downey, brilliant as a white actor surgically turned black actor for his role and utterly committed to staying in character no matter what ("I don't drop character till I done the DVD commentary").
Be warned: The movie, too, is committed--to being an equal-opportunity offender. Its political incorrectness extends not only to Lazarus's black-like-me posturing but also Speedman's recent, Sean Penn-style Oscar bid playing a cognitively challenged farmboy--or, in Lazarus's deathless phrase, "going the full retard." Others in the cast include Steve Coogan as a director out of his depth, Nick Nolte as the Viet-vet novelist whose book inspired the film-within-the-film, Matthew McConaughey as Speedman's sun-blissed agent back home, and Tom Cruise--bald, fat-suited, and profane--as an epically repulsive studio head. Two hours running time is a mite excessive, but otherwise, what's not to like? --Richard T. Jameson Stills from Tropic Thunder (Click for larger image)
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
So Wrong...So Good!:
Come on people...LAUGH! This movie is hysterical and Robert Downey Jr. gives such a stunning performance that you have to watch his scenes over and over again to get all the jokes.
Another brainless movie getting 5 stars, who can seriously think this is funny:
To give this movie 5 stars is saying it's a classic right up there with some of the other great 5 star comedies of Duck Soup, Blazing Saddles, Trading Places, Airplane, Caddyshack, and the like. I am sorry, but another check into The Frat Pack, this movie was just trying to hard to be funny, yet it was annoying and obnoxious...and a comedy script was not even present. 3 bigs names, and many high profile cameos, this movie is a dud. My feeling is the same as it was for the movie Envy which stared Ben Stiller... more info
Enjoyed most of it:
I liked the concept about a bumbling film crew in Vietnam making a war movie. Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Michael Downey Jr. do a fine job in this comedy. As the director, Stiller keeps it moving at a healthy pace. Worth a watch.
shameful:
Blasphemy is where I draw the line. What is comical about the line the helicopter is God and I am His Son, Jesus Christ? That line comes after suffering through a half hour of filthy language. Save your money and your self respect. Don't watch this.
