There are some comedies which make you laugh and send you from the theater with a huge grin on your face. Then there are comedies which make you laugh against your better judgement and send you from the theater masking your smile so other theater patrons won't think you're a sociopath. "Tropic Thunder" belongs in the second category.
Ben Stiller's latest movie, “Tropic Thunder,” tells the story of the production of a big-budget war movie, and everything that goes wrong in the process. When novice director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) comes to the conclusion that his Vietnam War epic is unconvincing, he decides to drop his cast into the jungles of Vietnam and shoot the picture guerilla-style (think “Platoon” meets “The Blair Witch Project”). Little does he know that the helicopter transporting the cast has flown far off course and landed them in a jungle filled with dangerous opium smugglers. Soon enough, the cast is thrust into real danger and forced the complete a real-life rescue mission.
From the very beginning, thanks to mock movie trailers, “Tropic Thunder” sets its tone: sarcastic, ironic, and bad-mannered. The audience meets the three stars of the movie, prima donnas all. There’s action star Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), a Stallone-clone who’s famous for his one-liners and big guns; Australian method actor and award-winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.), a very obvious jab at Russell Crowe; and funnyman Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) a riff on Eddie Murphy. The platoon is rounded out by rapper Alpha Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and rookie Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel).
Many of the jokes in “Tropic Thunder” come from the situation in which the conceited and overconfident actors find themselves: stuck in a strange jungle and pursued by dangerous men with real guns. The most hilarious bits, however, come from the personalities of the actors themselves, especially Speedman and Lazarus, who get the most screen time. Lazarus, the audience learns, has undergone a controversial skin pigmentation surgery to look the part of the platoon’s African-American sergeant. In fact, he’s so dedicated to the role that he refuses to break character even when the situation becomes increasingly dangerous.
“I don't break character until the DVD commentary,” says Lazarus.
Speedman, threatened by Lazarus’ acting chops and rejected by the rest of the ensemble, decides to travel into the jungle alone, where he’s quickly captured and held for ransom. In captivity, Speedman goes the way of Colonel Kurtz in “Apocalypse Now,” muttering crazy non-sequiturs and adopting a Laotian boy he calls little Half-Squat.
Above all, “Tropic Thunder” is a parody of war movies and of all movies in general. It pokes fun at the movie business, at Hollywood and at the intransigence of celebrities. “Tropic Thunder” might not be a movie for the politically correct, but it’s one of the funniest films to be released this year. It’s crude, rude and incredibly offensive, but it’s also sharp, knowing and often hilarious.
*** out of ****
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