TROPIC THUNDER
2008
Written by Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Etan Cohen, based on a story by Stiller and Theroux
Directed by Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller seems most often to play one of two comedic personas: He's the exasperated, neurotic ne'er-do-well, such as in Meet the Parents or Night at the Museum, or else he's the exaggerated buffoon who turns unknowing idiocy into an artform, like in Zoolander or Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. He employs a mix of both in Tropic Thunder, his wild new Hollywood satire, lampooning both the neuorses and pompous self-aggrandizing of your average movie star.
The movie begins with a fake ad for a fake product you could supposedly buy in the real theater. It's a gloriously meta trick which worked perfectly well in my theater; when the rap jingle advertising the energy drink started talking about "pussy juice," a woman behind me clearly proclaimed, "Excuse me?!" It took a moment for everyone to realize that the movie had indeed begun, and the fake trailers following that, while certainly nothing close to the sheer genius of those in last year's Grindhouse, are definitely hilarious.
The trailers introduce the main players, who are a bunch of poorly-assembled idiots trying to make the most important Vietnam War movie in the history of important Vietnam War movies, the titular Tropic Thunder. The movie's star, Tugg Speedman (Stiller), is just coming off of an ill-conceived Oscar bid in Simple Jack, where he played an offensively over-the-top mentally retarded boy. (The Special Olympics, and various other disabilities organizations, pledged to protest the movie's premiere over this plot aspect, showing that they have some mental handicaps of their own.) Tugg finds it difficult to work alongside the five-time Oscar-winning Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), an Australian actor so method he underwent pigmentation surgery to play the lead African-American role in the film, and who refuses to break character. Like, ever. Rounding out the cast are Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), the drug-addled comedian trying for a serious breakthrough; the no-nonsense, energy drink-shilling rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson); and Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), the only character in the entire movie who seems not to have crawled up his own ass...yet. Poor rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) has to somehow put up with all of this shit. In an effort to regain some control over the project, he takes the suggestion of handless Vietnam vet Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte) to drop the actors into the jungle without a crew. He plans on filming them guerilla-style, but unfortunately he makes a rather abrupt exit from the production, and the actors are left alone in the war-torn jungle, all the while thinking they're still safe and on the set.
This all sounds like the most brilliant satire since, well, at least a couple decades, right? Sure, it does. And while the movie is occasionally just as hilarious and offensive as it sounds, the problem is that it does indeed sound more hysterical than it ever is. As a director, Ben Stiller lacks the focus to concisely pull everything together. The same was true of his last directorial outing, 2001's aforementioned Zoolander, which was definitely a funny movie. But it never had the promise or ambition of Tropic Thunder, so while Tropic Thunder is the better movie, it is infinitely more disappointing. Robert Downey Jr.'s Kirk Lazarus gained attention and hype as soon as the first trailer hit months ago, and though he is one of the movie's highlights, a walking cliché of a black man, talking about grits and espousing the Jeffersons theme song as if it were profoundly philosophical, the script never lets him rip loose as much as we sense Downey Jr. could've. This is a continuous problem the movie has, of not giving its stars enough time to shine; Jack Black is funny, but is mostly an afterthought until the climax, and we're talking about one of the film's major big name stars here, one who has been on every poster and in every promo spot.
However, Stiller knows exactly how to treat the supporting cast. As Tugg's agent, Matthew McConaughey has his first good role since Frailty seven years ago. Since he's used so sparsely, his laidback charm never wears thin, reminding us of why, after a string of execrable romcoms, we liked him so much when he made a splash all those years ago in Dazed and Confused. Danny McBride, also currently shooting up screens in Pineapple Express, is hilarious as a pyromaniacal explosions technician (is there a title for that?), with a penchant for shouting "BIG TITTIES!" as he blows up the jungle. Even Bill Hader fills out a bit part, and so effortlessly that you know this guy is gonna stick around for a long time.
But the film's major delight, perhaps even surpassing Downey Jr., is a wisely unadvertised one. Sure, if you frequent the Internet as much as I do, you already know who I'm talking about, but if you go in only having seen the commercials, you'll be shocked to find Tom Cruise as Les Grossman, a balding, overweight, bespectacled, and ruthlessly aggressive movie producer. And Cruise's role is no cameo either, he's a full-on cast member. After the last few years of couch jumping and Scientology fanaticizing, Cruise has successfully alienated himself from the once-adoring masses. Tropic Thunder is the first step in Cruise's course correction, slowly ingratiating himself back into the hearts of moviegoers, and in a decidedly raunchy, rude way. Seriously. He plays the fuck out of the part, executing it beautifully, saying and doing all kinds of things that you never would've expected to see Jerry Maguire do. It's a wonderfully profane act of genius, and shows what Tropic Thunder is when it's at its best.
Because when it's on, it's on. The rescue mission at the end is another example, a ridiculously violent setpiece that also takes just the right jabs at just the right moments. It's just that it's never on as much as one would hope it to be, and in the end feels unfortunately slight. It comes, it goes, and it makes you laugh for a while, which is nothing to look down upon. But with the premise and the talent behind it, this could've been The Producers, you know? Oh well, beggars can't be choosers, and any movie that features Robert Downey Jr. as a black man and Tom Cruise telling someone to fuck themselves in their own ass is good enough for me.
- Arlo J. Wiley
August 16, 2008
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