Tropic Thunder: War is Hell-arious


Ben Stiller’s last directing effort, 2001’s Zoolander, was widely regarded as a daring comic effort but ultimately shunned at the box office. His latest, Tropic Thunder, is a smart and poignant zinger directed at almost every facet of filming the Hollywood blockbuster.

A rookie director recruits washed up action star Stiller, Oscar-winning method actor Robert Downey, Jr., Eddie Murphy-style gag man Jack Black, and shameless self-promoting rapper/actor Alpa Chino (newcomer Brandon T. Jackson) to shoot his epic Vietnam masterpiece based on the best-selling novel by grizzled vet Sergeant Four Leaf Tayback, played by Nick Nolte.

After pressure comes down from Hollywood about the film’s wasteful budget and increasingly delayed completion, the director decides to send his actors into the Vietnam wilderness to shoot the film “guerilla style” in the thick jungle. Eventually, the actors wander into the territory of a gang of drug lords still under the impression that everything they are doing is part of the filming.

Stiller breaks away from his typical Unlucky Goober Who Falls Backwards Into True Love and instead gives a delicious over-the-top performance as ex-action star Tugg Speedman, an obvious and hilarious dig at the Schwarzenegger/Stallone iconic action tough guy. Speedman’s one attempt at serious acting—the mentally challenged Simple Jack—is regarded as one of the worst films in history.

Black plays the kind of physical role that has made him a comedy superstar as Jeff Portnoy, a fart-humor specialist famous for his multiple roles in the Fatties films, an obvious dig at Eddie Murphy’s The Klumps. Black is a ball of nervous energy and explosive crude humor as Portnoy begins suffering a drug withdrawal at the absolute worst possible time.

But the real star of the show is Downey’s Kirk Lazarus, Australian multiple Oscar-winner known for delving deeply into his characters and his hatred for the paparazzi. This Russell Crowe clone takes the ultimate risk for Tropic Thunder, a pigmentation transplant to darken his skin so he can play an African-American platoon leader. Lazarus chooses to stay in character at all times, even when it becomes apparent that the group is lost and the filming is on hold. Downey is nothing short of a scene-stealer as Lazarus somehow succeeds in being widely inappropriate at times and yet somehow very endearing and soulful. The audience honestly gets the feeling that Lazarus deserves yet another Oscar for this amazing transformation, and Speedman’s increasing frustration at being out-acted makes for some hilarious verbal battle scenes.

Tropic Thunder should be on everyone’s must-see summer movie list, along with Iron Man (another Downey joint) and The Dark Knight. The film is more than a complete and ridiculous farce about a group of fools gallivanting around one of the world’s most dangerous areas. It becomes a film where actors are making fun of the way that other actors prepare to play serious or iconic roles. The film stands as the single greatest mock up of Hollywood filmmaking in history, and no small detail of the movie process is left unscathed from special effects to screenwriting. The humor is a sinful balance of intelligent banter and potty humor, and a surprise cameo by a certain superstar could be enough to reinvigorate his glib couch-hopping career.

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