Tropic Thunder: User Reviews

With his latest movie Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller once again presents a film dripping with the wit and subtlety of a bodily fluid joke. Tropic Thunder, which was co-written by Stiller, is a movie filled with obvious and sometimes offensive humor, but not in the tradition of classics like Dumb and Dumber or Airplane. Thunder is heavy on the gross and ridiculous but unfortunately too short on laughs.

Tropic Thunder is the tale of action star Tugg Speedman, whose popularity is quickly fading. He's been bogged down by a series of sequel flops and critics trashed his latest role Simple Jack. The last shot at reviving his career comes in the form of Tropic Thunder, the most expensive Vietnam War movie ever made. With the help of heroin addicted comedian/actor Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) and Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) Speedman hopes to legitimize the picture. But when the studio pulls the funding and the director decides to finish the picture anyway, the group is off to the real jungle to shoot the film "guerrilla style."

One of the key problems with Tropic Thunder is how dumbed down the jokes are. Even the names of characters in the film like director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) or Speedman's agent Rick "Pecker" Peck (Matthew McConaughey) are jokes that might only appeal to the elementary school playground crowd. It just felt like Stiller and company were trying too hard. Case in point---Tom Cruise as Les Grossman, the movie executive behind Tropic Thunder. His character is way over the top and is more annoying than funny. Cruise delivers his profanity-laced lines with a bombastic tone worthy of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze in Batman and Robin.

Tropic Thunder is not without its share of laughs however. The fake trailers at the beginning of the film were hilarious. Even the adds for rapper/actor Alpha Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) are a delightful satire of rappers who try to sell their own line of energy drinks and protein bars. Speedman's unlikely interaction with a panda is also particularly memorable. Tropic Thunder had its moments. Unfortunately Stiller, who also directed the film, was only capable of giving just that: moments.

Of those moments, Robert Downey Jr's. role as Kirk Lazarus, the film's black Sgt. Lincoln Osiris are the best. Downey has already had a monster year with this summer's Iron Man but the former Academy Award nominee proves his comedy chops in Tropic Thunder. Some of the classic parts of the film involve the interactions between Downey and Jackson.

Despite Downey’s best efforts however, Tropic Thunder is impaired by the unrealistic and the offensive. The filmmakers would actually have the audience believe that the drug gang that captures Speedman is led by a twelve year old. Even for a lowbrow comedy like Tropic Thunder that's hard to swallow. Additionally, the people who protested Stiller's turn as "Simple Jack" in this film might have a point. The performance is over the top to the point of being offensive. Stiller has been quick to point out that he wasn't mocking the mentally handicapped, but mocking arrogant action stars who try to take a turn at serious drama and fail miserably. The danger with parodying the offensive is that sometimes the parody is equally or more offensive than the item being parodied. Such is the case with Tropic Thunder.

While Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder generates some laughs, they are sporadic at best. It's appropriate however that the movie was about making a violent, explosive, and bloody war film. Tropic Thunder is nothing if not overkill.

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I laughed out loud so many times. The different characters all came together to make me laugh constantly. Great movie, a must see!

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