Tropic Thunder
Directed by Ben Stiller
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #62 in DVD
- Brand: Paramount
- Released on: 2008-11-18
- Rating: R (Restricted)
- Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
- Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
- Dubbed in: French, Spanish
- Number of discs: 1
- Running time: 107 minutes
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
It's not really a knock to say that nothing in Tropic Thunder is funnier than its first five minutes, so sly that--especially for people watching in theaters--you don't realize right away they are the opening minutes of the movie. This outrageous comedy begins with a series of fake previews, each introducing one of the main characters in the film-proper (not that there's anything proper about this film) and each bearing the familiar logo of a different motion picture studio: Universal, DreamWorks SKG, et al. Such playing fast and loose with corporate talismans verges on sacrilege, but it's an index of how much le tout Tinseltown endorses the movie as a demented valentine to itself. The premise is that the cast of a would-be "Son of Rambo" movie shooting in some Southeast Asian jungle get into a real shooting war with drug-smuggling montagnards. Don't ask--though the movie does have an answer--why such highly paid, usually ultra-pampered personnel as superhero Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Mozart of fart comedy Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), hip-hop artist Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), and five-time Oscar-winner Kirk Lazarus from Aus-try-leeah (Robert Downey Jr.) should be running through the jungle unattended and very vulnerable. It matters only that the real-life cast has a high time kidding their own profession and flexing their comedic muscles. Bonus points go to Stiller for co-writing the script (with Justin Theroux) and directing, and to Downey, brilliant as a white actor surgically turned black actor for his role and utterly committed to staying in character no matter what ("I don't drop character till I done the DVD commentary").
Be warned: The movie, too, is committed--to being an equal-opportunity offender. Its political incorrectness extends not only to Lazarus's black-like-me posturing but also Speedman's recent, Sean Penn–style Oscar bid playing a cognitively challenged farmboy--or, in Lazarus's deathless phrase, "going the full retard." Others in the cast include Steve Coogan as a director out of his depth, Nick Nolte as the Viet-vet novelist whose book inspired the film-within-the-film, Matthew McConaughey as Speedman's sun-blissed agent back home, and Tom Cruise--bald, fat-suited, and profane--as an epically repulsive studio head. Two hours running time is a mite excessive, but otherwise, what's not to like? --Richard T. Jameson
Stills from Tropic Thunder (Click for larger image)
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Customer Reviews
I'd recommend it
Watched it with my wife and the in-laws. I liked it and thought it was well done and funny. I am not a big Ben Stiller fan and I still managed to enjoy it. Tom Cruise's character stole the show and Downey Jr. was also excellent. My wife also liked the movie while my Father-in-law thought it was just OK. Mother-in-law hated it. I give it five stars relative to what it is, a cheesy comedy that doesn't take itself to seriously.
What a waste of time!
We rented this movie last night and became so bored with it, we turned it off midway. The 1st five minutes with the false trailers are mildly amusing and so we thought we were in for some belly laughs. Nothing could be further from the truth. The premise had potential, but there is nothing funny about this movie, no snappy dialogue, no quick comebacks, not once did we laugh after the opening. Sure, it has star potential, but the script was just awful, the characters weren't even decent parodies. Reviewers who say this is a good movie are just pandering to its extraordinary cast, but it was painfully clear that none of the cast actually read the book, er script (one of the "jokes" in the movie), and put it all together. The best thing about the movie was the panoramic scenery, which was gratuitously blown up, over and over. If you want belly laughs, see Step Brothers. Ben Stiller, you need new writing partners. I wonder if Will Ferrel is available?
A fun, fun flick!
OK, up front, "Tropic Thunder" is a Ben Stiller movie--written, directed, produced, and starred in--and that makes the film suspect. But wait! It's a fun, fun movie! I had to watch it twice to list all the allusions to other movies, mostly parodic allusions, sometimes serious, mostly not.
Ben Stiller as Tug Steadman is a Rambo imitator, including the number of sequels of the first successful Rambo movie. These films are previewed at the beginning of "Tropic Thunder." In fact, these previews ARE the beginning to set up the actors as actors. Jack Black is a gross Eddie Murphy and all the other characters played by Jack Black in his take-off of "The Nutty Professor."
Robert Downey, Jr. plays a fabulous method actor who "lives" his characters, including Neil Armstrong (when they found him in a Hollywood alley trying to re-enter Earth's gravity via a refrigeration box). He has had himself surgically made up to look like the black character he is portraying. But which actor? I narrowed it to Omar Epps or Morgan Freeman, but it could be Tim Meadows from Saturday Night Live, who imitated every black person who ever lived. Whatever, you won't recognize him until he removes his black facial maskings to reveal Mel Gibson or Crocodile Dundee (as Downey is an Australian actor). Being a great method actor allowed him to learn Mandarin Chinese for one of his five Oscars (another nod to parody).
In another acknowledgement of great actors Downey also plays Peter Sellers (I'm not sure which role). But the BEST paeon to other actors is Ben Stiller's nod to Marlon Brando in "Apocalypse Now," the scene at the end when he has has turned inward as the master of the village. This "Brando" is the master of an acting role as "Simple Jack," another bow to Robin Williams in "Jack," both supremely failed movie projects. As Downey's character tells Stiller, "Never go full retard," and he lists all the movies that actors played and won awards for characters "not full retard."
This is awful to say but I think Nick Nolte plays a failed actor (himself), trying to redeem himself through heroic actions. But the best role goes to Tom Cruise as a tough corporate studio head. Ironically, he resembles Bill Gates and the name of the studio is IMAC Corporation. I didn't like this guy until I realized it was Tom Cruise, then the role became a study in actorly talent. His rap dancing is a great way to "wrap" the movie.
Matthew MacConaughey pretty much plays all the characters he ever plays in a parody of himself, but he shows deep concern when TC is going make money off the death of Ben Stiller. How he saves Stiller is not to be missed (or believed!).
So, I've presented the redeeming features of this surprisingly entertaining film. There is much more:
1. Brandon Jackson--I loved this character, Alpa Chino (say it aloud), who squealed an imitation of Chris Tucker, who co-starred with Jackie Chan.
2. Jay Beruchel as the young actor who plays young soldiers who become men during the course of the story
3. Brandon Soo Hoo, the boy leader of the drug cartel in the Laos/Cambodia/Myanmar drug capital (Golden Triangle), in acknowledgement of the little boys who are made into vicious, killing soldiers in war-torn areas of the world and an Asian actor, who, of course, is a martial artist!
4. Downey's two lines: "No Man Left Behind" -- a not-so-subtle reminder of "No Child Left Behind" and its failure, and "Be all you can be."
At the risk of damaging my reputation as a respectable reviewer, I embrace this movie for what Stiller did with it. The many references put together work really well in celebrating other movies, even if presented in parody. If you are a movie buff, watch "Tropic Thunder" not for itself, but for what it represents.
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