Tropic Thunder :: Wessex Scene Online

Tropic Thunder

Ben Stiller: Still got his Thunder?

11th October 2008
Nicholas Brown

About this film

Title	Tropic Thunder
Director	Ben Stiller
Release Date	19 September 2008
Certificate
Genres	Action, Adventure, Comedy
Our Rating	4.0/5.0
Shown at Union Films Sunday 7th December 2008 8:00pm

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More by Nicholas Brown

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Tropic Thunder Trailer

Critics and audiences are still divided on Ben Stiller, his movies veer erratically between the ludicrous classics and the torturously bad.

Fortuantely, like Zoolander, Tropic Thunder has Stiller on triple duty as writer, director and actor, creating laughs by delving into a popular and influential industry, portraying a buffoon that has insulated himself in a bubble of success and is naive to the realities in which he is placed. Yet while the moronic action star Tugg Speedman is no Derek Zoolander, the formula clearly has potency.

The opening premise of the movie sees a group of prima-donna actors dropped into a dangerous Vietkong environment by a vengeful director (played by Stiller’s friend Steve Coogan). The actors are oblivious to the dangers around them which they are led to believe are part of the script. Unfortunately the initially strong predicament is dispensed with rather early and not really exploited to its full potential. Instead we get a wilderness-set comedy about a group of actors coming to terms with their careers and learning to ‘get along’.

Of course, the plot is not important if the jokes are up to snuff. Tropic Thunder draws the majority of its humour from two potent sources – the satire of Hollywood exemplified best in the fake movie trailers that precede the main picture and the parody of war films. Not since Top Secret! has the genre taken such a bashing; Note the use of 60’s rock, the Apocalypse Now-inspired orange-tinged interiors and Speedman promising to teach Downey Jr.’s character Kirk Lazarus to learn how to juggle after having his hands blown off.

Roberty Downey Jr. steals the show, showing off the comedic acting chops we’ve only seen hints of in Iron Man and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. His portrayal of Kirk Lazarus, the method actor’s method actor is grimacing awkward and yet constantly hilarious. Jack Black is rather wasted with a drug addict comedian character, yet somehow the trio of Stiller, Downey Jr. and Black are considered so funny they require two straight-men to bounce off: Jay Baruchel who you don’t remember from Knocked Up and Bandon T. Wilson who you didn’t know was an extra in 8 Mile. The real treasure comes from some great supporting cast such as Matthew McConaughey, Bill Hader and Nick Nolte. Also look out for Tom Cruise in a role that will confuse and amaze you.

It wouldn’t be remiss without discussing the controversy that has surrounded Tropic Thunder since its release in the US. The film has come under fire from two separate lobby groups for two different tasteless jokes. Civil rights groups object to Downey Jr’s character being so method he dyes his skin black to play a black character (and refused to stop talking in an African-american patter until “he’s done the DVD commentary”) while mental health groups object to the use of the word “retard” in reference to a Tugg Speedman’s film-within-a-film ‘Simple Jack’. While both complaints have merit, it seems redundant to criticise a comedy film, particularly where the jokes are there to mock the main character’s (Speedman’s absurd attempt at getting Academy recognition and Lazarus’ bizarre transformation from white Australian to crude black stereotype). These jokes even feel a little tame compared to other more offensive material we’ve had from Hollywood in recent years.

Ultiamtely, Tropic Thunder is beautifully shot and with a healthy spread of hilarity despite a sluggish mid-section, it’s is one of the strongest Hollywood comedies not to feature the Will Ferrell frat pack or the Judd Apatow consortium and proves that Stiller still has it. He probably won’t win over any critics, but you get the feeling that he doesn’t really care.