Tropic Thunder Review-By Kelsey Zukowski

Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Danny McBride, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, Steve Coogan
Directed By: Ben Stiller
Written By: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux, Etan Cohen
Released: 2008
Grade: B

Tropic Thunder is a very chaotic film even with its’ basic premise. It is a movie telling a war hero’s fake story where the actors think they are in a movie. This is true at first, but quickly the fiction is only in the actors minds making them let their guards down and drastically increase their chances of walking right in to their own death. Also with Robert Downey Jr. playing a guy who is playing a guy who is playing a black guy possible due to pigment surgery, the film takes advantage of this crazy and complicated situation by making everything this way to show the insanity of it all. It embraces this goofiness and because of this is able to critique topics like celebrity-ism, Hollywood stiffs, and particularly the movie within the movie aspect mocking war films and especially giving a striking resemblance to Apocalypse Now with the content as well as the film being threatened to be shut down and some mental instability following it.

Damian Cockburn (Coogan) is a young director who is about to take on the big budget Hollywood portrayal of Four Leaf Tayback’s (Nolte) war hero novel. One of the actors starring in the film is Tugg Speedman (Stiller); an action hero star of the once popular, but dwindling ‘Scorcher’ franchise followed by the movie of a mentally disabled man, Simple Jack. The head African-American general will be played by Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr.) who is a more respected actor. The movie also features Jeff Portnoy (Black) who is the entire cast in The Fatties series, a movie about an obese farting family. Also there is Alpa Chino, the completely misogynistic and sexually charged rapper who is making his first break in the movie industry with this film. Lastly there is Kevin Sandusky (Baruchel), the least well known of the featured cast, yet perhaps the most qualified since he was in boot camp and also happens to be the only one who read the script and the novel that it is based on.

A 4 million dollar explosion went off while the cameras weren’t rolling since some of the actors are having trouble with a few of the scenes. The producer, Les Grossman (Cruise) is infuriated with the money and time wasted as well as the bad media press that the movie is already getting. He is thinking of shutting the entire movie down if Damian can’t get a hold of his actors and get a believable performance out of them. So he decides to take drastic measures to make his cast in to true soldiers even if they don’t know how to play them on their own. The actors are taken to a new location which is guaranteed to make them in to men. Everything is set up, there are cameras planted all over the place and Damian will be filming with his camera from hidden places as well. He takes his casts’ phones, destroys them, and tells them that no one is leaving until he gets the shots that he needs. Unfortunately, a few of the explosive special effects end up blowing up in his face, brutally decapitating his body.

Tugg is so convinced that this is just an example of the top notch effects work that is being created in hopes of making a realistic set that he just acts as if everything around him is a simple prop. Some of the others aren’t so sure that what is happening around them, but go along with Tugg in hopes of finishing the movie and getting out of there. The more they embrace being soldiers determined to win the fight, they find much bigger trouble than any acting challenge could give them. They are heading in to the territory of the ‘Flaming Dragon’, violent, rich, and malicious drug lords who are gunned and ready to destroy anyone who comes close to their growth and supply. Tugg separates from the others, sure that the way he is going is the key to finishing the movie. Not that long after they separate, he is captured by the Flaming Dragon and tortured.

They end up realizing that Tugg played Simple Dave, which is the only movie they have and watch it over and over again. Rather than letting him go, they hold him ransom, first for 50 and than for 100 million dollars. When Tugg’s agent, Rick Peck (McConaughey) finds out about this, he is horrified and shocked. Les is much less concerned about it. He claims he is fully ready to let Tugg die, because that way they don’t lose money on him and can even promote the film further putting forth a sympathetic stance to his memory, gaining much more press. Rick is appalled by this but tempted to join them based on the bribes and possible future they question his motives with. Meanwhile, they have Tugg re-acting the whole movie, threatening him upon any disapproval they may have. The rest of the actors realizes what has happened to Tugg and attempt to save him, despite Jeff’s insanity that is being triggered by his drug problem and being so close to just what he craves not to mention the constant bickering between Alpha and Lazarus about Lazarus only playing the stereotype of a black man while brutal warriors make every attempt to wipe them out.

Ben Stiller has great energy in the film, which reminded me of his performance in Zoolander. He is so full of life and has such an adrenaline rush pumping through him at every moment that it becomes contagious to the audience that we can’t help but feel a certain sense of enthusiasm. What makes it work so well is that for a great part of the film, he is so sure that he is in a film and everything that is happening around him is just part of the scene. This becomes so humorous because he is completely convinced that everything is this fake world that he has become so accustomed to. Stiller has managed to continue his career with some good work over the years along with some flops, but seeing him here, probably because he was so involved with so many aspects of the film, is one of the most refreshing performances of his in awhile. Robert Downey Jr. proves again that he can do no wrong. I think this was a good move for him since it is so different from any character he has dealt with before and he did very well with the comedy. I was very disappointed with the outcome for Jack Black in this movie. He had his funny moments, but overall he really wasn’t given enough to work with so his potential was wasted.

Brandon Jackson did very well as Alpha Chino and actually gave the character a lot more dignity than you would think. This is partially due to the script that made his character a clear critique of rappers and how they portray women and sex in their music and videos, but it was actually given a bit more depth than this. He continued to fight for dignity as a black man and was insulted by anything less than the decency for his race. Also, interestingly enough he revealed that perhaps his songs and videos were much more about image than how he really felt. Jay Baruchel did wonderful here too and even though he is given a slightly smaller part than some of the other actors, he is still part of majority of the film and really delivers. Baruchel really comes off as by far one of the more normal and intelligent ones. He actually has prepared for his role unlike the others and is using common sense when things clearly go wrong. Baruchel has been in a handful of Apatow films lately and although he did well there, he is given more to work with in Tropic Thunder.

Matthew McConaughey has finally taken a break from the romantic comedy slump that he has been in to and has done something that seems a little more fresh as the loyal agent. He was still part of the critique of Hollywood, but showed a fondness for his client even as a person instead of a means for money. Tom Cruise was an even bigger surprise though as the immoralist tyrant producer who would rather make a murder possible than lose any money. His fondness for rap and his dancing style combined with his balding look here was enough to make anyone smile. After quite a large rut it is this fun material that very well might save his career if he continues to make wise and unique choices like this. Between Danny McBride’s performance here and in Pineapple Express he shows us his talent for comedy that particularly succeeds in action with a life ending threat hanging over his head. He brings out the comedy in crises beautifully. He works great alongside Nick Nolte playing the supposed war hero who is attempting to get his story properly retold on the big screen but is really no more than a scared phony, which fits perfectly with the very panicked Cody that McBride portrays. There are a handful of notable cameos as well like Christine Taylor, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Lance Bass, Tyra Banks, Jon Voight, Alicia Silverstone, Jason Bateman, and Maria Menounos.

One big issue that some have been complaining about are the mentally disabled jokes in the film. It is completely understandable to be offended by the way they are portrayed in the movie. Tugg played a mentally disabled person in a movie called, Simple Jack, that completely bombed. Clips of the movie are shown and they are pretty stereotypical, but this is not the real problem regarding the subject. This comes with Lazarus’ claim that the reason past films with a mentally challenged character were successful was because they weren’t “completely retarded” and Simple Jack was, which is where he went wrong. This basically suggested that someone who was completely mentally challenged couldn’t have any human or sympathizing real quality in them, as if saying they weren’t really human. This is pretty insulting and ignorant, but it didn’t really seem like a cheap joke for laughs. There was one moment when it was first mentioned where this is true, but later it served more as an accomplishment for Tugg through his acting abilities. Part of the reason why it could have been worse than it was, was that it was more of a minor element of a film and wasn’t a reoccurring punch line that kept on popping up. Still, it seemed like the majority of the film was too smart for this and didn’t need to stoop down to this level.

The whole reason why they even needed to go to this remote location was because the actors were all too big of celebrities. This idea is played around with by actors who could very well fall victim to this in real life. This same sense of critiquing those who are making the movie possible is shown through the producers, the priority of money and the big effects. The producer is really shown to be completely crazy and money is always the key objective in the entertainment business; the very thing that fuels the craziness. It is not about showing a war hero’s story to the world. My guess is even if they knew it was all a lie it wouldn’t matter any to them, but they would still used the ‘based on a true story’ ploy to rig in viewers and play it off as a real story of struggle and emotion. There are huge explosives and effects used in a movie making an example of blockbusters and nearly becomes one in the process, just one with a comedic spark. It is really the aspect of how much money dictates the producer and therefore the movie and everyone involved with it. The funny (or maybe not so funny) thing is that this isn’t that different than what some producers or even some high strung directors most likely are like. Sure, most would hopefully not allow a murder of their star to occur, but there are certain lines many wouldn’t mind crossing. Tropic Thunder manages to capture the insanity of some of the minds in the film industry and in a way that is extremely wild and funny. Overall, the script is pretty good aside from a few places where it is lacking and there is some very sharp and memorable dialogue not to mention the completely hilarious fake commercials before the movie of the 3 main character’s films and Alpa Chino’s music video promoting the energy drink, “Booty Sweat”. Despite a few flaws the movie is pretty smart and gives us a very enjoyable mix of action, comedy, fiction turned to a real crisis, and plenty of bizarreness everywhere in between.