Tropic Thunder Film Movie Review

20/20 Filmsight

E-mail Subscription

Receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this site:

Vimu Subscription

20/20 Filmsight - August 2008

Tropic Thunder

August 4th 2008 23:07

"Tropic Thunder" is the latest shiny parody movie from actor/director/producer Ben Stiller, who is nominally the 'leader' of the 'Frat Pack', a group of Hollywood comedians that appear in a large percentage of Hollywood comedy movies.

There's no Vince Vaughn or Owen Wilson in "Tropic Thunder", but Stiller makes up for it, combining the 'Frat Pack' with the Sharks from across the neighborhood, Judd Apatow's gang. This is a heavy-hitting cast, with a big budget and a taste for gross-out comedy that'll leave you gagging.

Stiller's movie is a scathing look at big budget movies, and how big-name actors throw themselves into the role; "Tropic Thunder" looks at the war movie, and a cast of fictional stars who have been assembled to recreate an epic Vietnam War story.

There's a fading action star, trying to revitalize his career, a tubby vulgar comedian looking for respect, a rapper trying to cash in on his brand.

Best of all, there's an Australian Oscar-winner, who undergoes blackface and total character involvement in order to portray a black Marine from the 60s, played by Robert Downey, Jr. He likes rugby and brawls with cameramen, sticking to his American accent even when the cameras are off. The comparisons to a particular actor are apt, especially when you hear Downey's accent - he could be a double for our Souths supporter.

The fictional actors are left in the jungle by the English director, who aims to film a gritty, realistic war movie, guerilla-style, and then are instructed to make their way through the jungle, fighting with the Viet Cong.

Naturally, they get ambushed by a Chinese drug syndicate, and there's some predictable confusion over the realism, with Stiller leading the way as the buffoon. "Tropic Thunder" devolves to spoof-levels, but the nature of the movie is not to strike too deep. Instead, we, the audience, sat back and guffawed heartily at the machine-gun rate of fire.

"Zoolander" put Stiller on the map as the man to hand the reins to. His movie about male modelling is still being tiresomely quoted by college students at keg parties, and amateur 'Blue Steel' poses still appear too often on cameraphones ; the film community was desperately looking for Stiller to fumble with "Tropic Thunder", but the verdict is, unexpectedly, that "Tropic Thunder" is damn funny.

Stiller's brand of satire stays on the surface, is predictable to the end, and wanders into lunacy at times, but we're not here for fine cinema - we're here to knee-slap and deep-belly laugh. Gross-out comedy is a real genre, apparently, "Tropic Thunder" mines the furry depths of bad taste - to fantastic, gleeful effect.

I say: I've got a notorious tolerance for stupid comedy, and this hits right up there with "Something About Mary" and "Dumb and Dumber". If you've got the same weakness, you'll love this to gory pieces.

See it for: You know what you want to see it for - Tom Cruise in makeup as a bald, pudgy billionaire with a foul-tongue and nasty dance moves. Also, great expensive soundtrack.

*this image is from FirstShowing.net

135

Shared on

Subscribe to this blog

Email this post to a friend

Go to the Orble Film Channel

Start your own blog

[ Link ]

Posted By: Cibbuano - Category: Americanas

Related Posts:

Relate This Post

[ Previous - Kevin Smith wins ratings case for "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" ]

[ Next - The City of Lost Souls ]

Comments

23 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Nomad

August 4th 2008 23:55

Awesome Food

yeah I like a good lame comedy with ben stiller in it too, i seen the preview at the cinema and thought downey jr looked hilarious, may have to watch this one...

Comment by Cibbuano

August 5th 2008 02:08

20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

nomad, I actually howled at some points... the movie succeeds at making fun of actors, and Stiller makes fun of himself... Downey is great, but I had trouble understanding what the hell he was talking about...

Comment by jon

August 5th 2008 03:43

Orble News
Urban Hint
Blog Adviser
Jon's Bookmarks
Debate Battle
Orblepedia
Orble Notes
Sydney WeekendNotes

Looks pretty funny. Not usually a huge fan of Stiller but I'll make an exception in this case. Good to see a different range of actors as well. I was getting a little bored of the same-old actors, it made all of their movies seem so similar.

----

This post has been shared on CinemaMad.com.

50 readers a day after just one week -- woohoo!

Comment by Irene

August 5th 2008 04:00

Women In Cinema
Grammar Matters

I want to watch this, but first I must get over my aversion to Ben Stiller.

During the Tropic Thunder trailer that played before The Dark Knight (this was opening weekend, so the place was full), it sounded like almost everyone in the theatre was cracking up at Downey. Especially when he says the lines from The Jeffersons.

Comment by Cibbuano

August 5th 2008 05:45

20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

jon, this is one you'd see with a bunch of chucklehead friends that like their humour slapstick. Great scenery, soundtrack and explosions, though!

Irene, I've got a bit of that aversion, too... I watched the movie in a big cinema, and I had so much trouble understanding Downey... I blame the sound...

Comment by Tracy

August 5th 2008 06:30

Movies and Life

Hi Cib

I have tickets to see it next week, sounds like I'll have a good laugh.

Tracy

Comment by Mr Nice Guy

August 5th 2008 07:31

Pop Culturist

Stupid comedy . . . I'm there with bells on!

Where do I sign up?

Cheers

Comment by Damo

August 5th 2008 08:10

For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics

Looks fun

But I feel as if i have seen it before.

Comment by Cibbuano

August 5th 2008 11:29

20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

tracy, have a ball!

MNG, it's doing well at the box office, so you should be able to catch it.

Damo, I thought the same thing as I was watching it, but I couldn't pin where I'd seen the idea before...

Comment by The wonderful Peter Yang

August 5th 2008 13:38

The wonderful Peter Yang's No.1 blog
The wonderful Peter Yang's Ghost Story Blog

This looks like a very interesting movie

Cheers

Comment by Julie Vaux

August 7th 2008 04:52

Books Well Read
Strange Situations
The Purple Challenge

I hope to see this some time since the combination of Jack Black Robert Downey and Ben Stiller is too awesomely wicked to resistance.

Now if only Hollywoood would film some of Bujold's Vorkosigan books and cast Jack Black as Miles ... hey maybe Ben Stiller could play Miles' "normal" cousin IVAN.

Then again I'm one of those who actually loved the long drawn out scenes in IRON MAN of Downey playing Stark playing with his toys er developing the IRON MAN armour sinc eit was such a wonderful portrait of an obsessed creator/craftsperson/ inventor.

Comment by Damo

August 7th 2008 04:53

For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics

Hang on it is The Three Amigos with more amigos and trees.

Comment by Bryn

August 7th 2008 05:16

Horrorphile

I was at the same screening you were Cibby. I found it surprisingly hilarious. I'm not a fan of Ben Stiller's directed movies to be honest. And even his other comedy outings can leave me stony-faced. I liked that this was unabashedly adult humour. And yeah, Tom Cruise as a Joel Silver (I'm thinking) parody was very clever. Cruise is a curious kettle of fish, debunking his own "super-star" status every now and again by playing a character like this. I wonder when he'll allow his daughter to watch this?

Comment by Bryn

August 7th 2008 05:18

Horrorphile

.. oh, and Robert Downey. Brilliant. Brilliant. He should get an Oscar nod for this performance!

If he doesn't I'll eat my combat boots!
And Jack Black's "I'll cradle the balls, lick the shaft, wet the end of the pipe and swallow the gravy" line has to be one of the outrageous comedy lines in years!

Comment by Cibbuano

August 7th 2008 05:37

20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

Peter, check it out in the theater...

Julie, you'll probably enjoy this. Downey is pretty damn good...

Damo, my God! that's it, exactly! The Three Amigos!

Bryn, Downey was a direct hit on Russell Crowe, no? He denied it publicly, but when he was talking about how acting is just like rugby, I thought it was almost exact!

Comment by Bryn

August 7th 2008 06:39

Horrorphile

Yeah, funny, I didn't think of Russell at all, I was reminded more of Downey's attempt at an Orstraylean accent in Natural Born Killers.

Comment by Anonymous

August 14th 2008 00:57

how gory is this movie and how much of it is. i think i can handle over the top real fake looking gore if thats what it is

Comment by Cibbuano

August 14th 2008 03:29

20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

anon, it's a little gory - actually, now that I think about it, there's a few moments of extreme cartoonish gore, but after that, it settles down.

Comment by Trina

August 15th 2008 00:27

Hiphop
Confessions of a Serial Dancer
Competitions
Clubbing

Hey Cibby! *waves* long time no speak!

This movie looks pretty good, great post as always and wow new header!

Trina

Comment by Trina

August 15th 2008 00:28

Hiphop
Confessions of a Serial Dancer
Competitions
Clubbing

Hey Cibby! *waves* long time no speak!

This movie looks pretty good, great post as always and wow new header!

Trina

Comment by Cibbuano

August 15th 2008 01:44

20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak

trina, good to see you around! It's a fun movie - and the jokes fly fast enough to avoid the bombs...

Comment by Anonymous

August 22nd 2008 05:14

i was laughing my ass off, laughed so hard i snorted twice, hav never done that in a movie theatre before, friggin hillarious !!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by Anonymous

August 27th 2008 14:44

Just watched this movie, Tom Cruise brilliant, and some of Jack Black, but otherwise pathetic. Worst Ben Stiller movie I have ever seen. Not much laugher in a packed cinema.

[ Previous - Kevin Smith wins ratings case for "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" ]

[ Next - The City of Lost Souls ]

Add A Comment

To create a fully formatted comment please click here.

CLICK HERE TO LOGIN | CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Name or Orble Tag

Home Page (optional)

Comments

Notify me of replies

Notify extra people about this comment

Is this a private comment?

List the Email Addresses or Orble Tags of the people you would like to be notified about this comment

One per line max of 30

List the Email Addresses or Orble Tags of the people you would like to be notified about this private comment thread. Only the people in this list will be able to see or reply to your comment.

One per line max of 30

Your Name
(for the email going out to the above list, it can be different to your Orble Tag)

Your Email Address

(optional)

(required for reply notification)

Submit

September 2008

4 Posts

August 2008

22 Posts

July 2008

22 Posts