'Tropic Thunder' Movie Review

Actors, studio execs, action epics, Vietnam War movies, classic rock film soundtracks, and even art films are all fair game in Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller's mostly hilarious send-up of pompous Hollywood types. By the time Tropic Thunder ends, Stiller's stuck his comedy knife in deep and eviscerated Sean Penn's I Am Sam performance, smarmy actors, and out-of-control film industry big wigs.

Tropic Thunder goes way beyond where past spoof movies have ventured. Robert Downey Jr plays an Oscar-winning Aussie who undergoes a skin pigmentation procedure in order to darken his skin enough so that he can play an African-American soldier. Not many modern films would attempt something that crazy. But it's not just that unusual storyline that puts Tropic Thunder in a league of its own. It took a lot of guts for Ben Stiller and co-writer Justin Theroux to call out their fellow actors, yet what's even more impressive is that moviegoers don't have to get every single in-joke to find Tropic Thunder funny.

The Story

The film begins with a series of fake movie trailers setting up our three lead actors: Tugg Speedman (Stiller), Kirk Lazarus (Downey), and Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black). Tugg's a fading action movie stud verging on has-been status who needs a hit or else he'll be bumped to the D-list. His one attempt at serious drama, Simple Jack – a film which was supposed to be a heartwarming story of a man with mental retardation – turned out to be more of a misfire than Ishtar.

Aussie Kirk has five Oscars under his belt and is aching to add a starring role in what's supposed to be the biggest war movie of all time to his resume. Kirk, a Method actor who's so caught up in his craft he actually believes the meaningless philosophy he spouts ("I don't read the script. The script reads me."), undergoes a medical procedure to play an African-American. Jeff's claim to fame is a series of gross-out fart comedies centering on the flabby fictional 'Fatties' family.

Rounding out the group of actors selected to bring the true story of Vietnam war hero John 'Four Leaf' Tayback (Nick Nolte) to life on the screen is rapper-energy drink spokesperson-wannabe actor Alpa Chino (Brandon T Jackson) and the only guy who bothered to read the script and go to the training camp, Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel).

Just days into shooting, the biggest budgeted war movie ever to head into production is weeks behind schedule and director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) must face the wrath of a studio head (Tom Cruise) known for his explosive temper and R-rated language. Threatened with the loss of his job if he doesn't keep his big-name cast in check and get the film back on schedule, Damien does something he shouldn't do under any circumstances. He listens to the obviously out of his mind Tayback and sends his coddled actors out into the jungle to film the movie guerrilla style.

Pampered, clueless, and totally outside their element, the cast of the war movie has no idea they've actually left the set and have stumbled upon real drug lords carrying real guns that shoot real bullets. But then, slowly and reluctantly, the actors begin to catch on to the fact they're no longer tucked safely in the world of make-believe. That is, all of them start to figure it out except for Tugg who stands firm in his belief that the drug lords are all just extras and/or stuntmen.

It's not until Tugg's captured and taken back to their camp that he figures out these guys don't respect the meaning of 'Cut'. Now it's up to his fellow actors to come up with a plan to free Tugg from the bad guys and save the day. And Kirk, being a Method actor extraordinaire, is determined to not break character once while doing it.

The Cast

Jack Black's terrific as a drug addicted actor whose time in the jungle turns into sheer hell after a giant bat steals his drugs. Also contributing engaging performances are Baruchel as the film's only sane character and Jackson as a rapper who wants to be taken seriously as an actor. Danny McBride, playing a special effects man who blew off one of his fingers working on Driving Miss Daisy, also shows why he's become the new go-to guy for filling comic sidekick roles.

Stiller, wearing multiple hats and with arms Arnold Schwarzenegger would be jealous of, is probably the weak story link as his character just isn't as interesting as the rest. The film's only real slow moments come when the camera focuses on his time alone in the jungle, though those same scenes allow Matthew McConaughey a chance to get goofy as Tugg's agent who's obsessed with getting his client's TIVO service hooked up.

But the real standouts of Tropic Thunder are Robert Downey Jr and Tom Cruise. That's right, Tom Cruise. Cruise is amazing as a bloated, out of control studio exec (you've got to wonder if this is Cruise's way of getting back at Sumner Redstone after he booted Cruise out of Paramount). Stay for the credits to see Cruise as you've never seen him before.

Downey is undoubtedly one of the few actors who could have pulled off playing an Aussie actor playing an African-American. "I know who I am! I'm the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!," Downey says, and it's a performance that's fascinating and hilarious and wrong, and just too damn funny. Even when he's delivering a monologue explaining to Stiller's Tugg why you "never go full retard," Downey's so into the character that, yes, it's uncomfortable, but it's also hysterical.

The Bottom Line

The fact Downey's change of skin color isn't the most controversial element of Tropic Thunder is just astonishing. However bizarre the surgically altered skin pigment storyline sounds, it works because Downey's character's politically incorrect remarks and stereotypical behavioral are tempered by Brandon T Jackson's - playing rapper-turned-actor Alpa Chino (say it aloud…yes, that's how it's pronounced) - immediate condemnation. Jackson never lets a single ethnic remark slide by without a pointed comeback.

Page 2: The Final Analysis