‘Tropic Thunder’ or “Booty Juice seems like it would be a very hard product to market.” (Review)
Not often do you get the pleasure of walking out of the cinema with your chest physically aching and riding an endorphin high from laughing so hard. This is the best feeling to experience when leaving a comedy. The only movie this year to give me that pleasure was the Ben Stiller directed farce, ‘Tropic Thunder’. Not only is this a comedy that exceeds on so many levels where others have failed, but it’s the best comedy of the year (and will possibly turn out to be one of the best films of the year)..
This has been an interesting summer for comedies. Out of the mainstream cache of Hollywood comedies to come along this summer, many of them have turned out to be trite excuses for funny people to do funny things, but not in the context of good movie. It was more of a display the fact improv skills rather than showing how to make an actual movie. ‘Step Brothers’ and ‘Pineapple Express’ each had their moments of hilarity but they lacked any true substance and were both ultimately very forgettable films.
To simply call ‘Tropic Thunder’ funny is such an understatement of what the film achieves. It’s scathing, subversive, witty and undeniably the laugh-out-loud movie of the year. This film which has gotten criticisms from advocacy groups about its portrayal of a mentally retarded character, and it’s surprising that they are the only people speaking out. This movie leaves no one safe from criticism or satire. ‘Tropic Thunder’ is not as much a mocking the war-movie genre, but a full on satire of the Hollywood movie making machine and those who work for it.
Something that truly makes ‘Tropic Thunder’ stand out from the rest of the comedic films this year is that it is a well-plotted out film that fully works. They have a legitimate story, even if the set-up is to get the actors out in the jungle and into real life combat. The characters here are real character that have been thought out and have in-depth backgrounds. While they may be silly and idiotic at times you can’t help but find them endearing people because they are fallible. Once they get “into the shit”, you get to see a different quality in them emerge. They are no longer actors looking for another paycheck or another quick fix for their drug habit. They are people that want to survive and actually care about each other.
The characters are also loosely based on real life Hollywood actors, some easier to associate with their real life counter parts than others. The most obvious is Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Kirk Lazarus is undoubtedly doing his best Russell Crowe impression. Lazarus is a hard drinking; hot-tempered Australian who takes is craft very seriously. This film satirizes the film industry in a relentless manner. It’s a movie that is so self aware and even parodies their own casting choices by having Robert Downey Jr. play an intense actor who gets lost in his roles because that is actually him. He’s in on the joke as well, just like everyone else in the film.
While I’m on the topic of Robert Downey Jr., I will say that this is some of the best acting of his career and it’s such an odd film for that to take place him. Downey who is in “blackface” for the majority of the film is nearly unrecognizable. He’s not only made up to look like the African American character of Sgt. Osiris, but he never breaks character at all. He lives and breathes Osiris. What’s more surprising is that Downey is in Blackface for the majority of the film there has been very little media criticism for that.
You can’t talk about ‘Tropic Thunder’ without mentioning some of the cameos in the movie. There are a lot of cameos in this movie that are not surprising but just sprinkled through the movie in the most perfect of ways. These are not forced cameos that break the rhythm of the film, like the Apatow gang has been doing lately. These cameos or guest appearances are ones that fit the tone of the film. I won’t go into too much detail, but (spoiler alert) Tom Cruise was actually good in this movie. I left ‘Tropic Thunder’ with not a new found love for Cruise, but certainly I respect him more as an actor now. He took a role that seems below him and owned it. He’s purposely over acting in the role of megalomaniacal studio head, Len Grossman and loving it too.
Stiller, who directed ‘Tropic Thunder’ and co-wrote the script with actor/writer Justin Theroux, has managed to make one of the best unconventional films of the year. This is a smart movie, and it proves Stiller can do family friendly comedy and can also push people to their comedic limits of what is decent or tolerable. The entire cast has a fantastic energy on screen. From the A-list talent like Robert Downey Jr, Ben Stiller, Jack Black to lesser known people such as Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson. They all play off one another perfectly. For once a comedy with a lot of buzz around it has come along and delivered on the promise of the film and much more than that. ‘Tropic Thunder’ is a movie that elevates a new standard of what comedies should aspire to reach.
Dan Hacker
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