What do YOU mean, "you people?"
TROPIC THUNDER is hilarious, if you're either in, follow, or revel in The Industry or wallow in its product. As a screenwriter and someone who's watched a fair number of movies, reads the trades, etc, it was a lot of fun. I saw where some of the jokes were heading, and the realization that they were really going there made them even funnier. It's pretty wild and over-the-top, which is entirely the point. The bulk of the picture is a lot of Industry inside-jokes that are accessible to the EW or Entertainment Tonight crowd, too. If you're into movies, you may enjoy a comedy made by people who make movies about the absurdities associated with the people who make movies.
I'll be very curious to see how well it plays outside of those circles. If you don't really watch a lot of movies, pay attention to marketing campaigns, or participate in or follow The Industry, it probably doesn't work quite as well. I caught it with Artemis who loves movies and TV shows, but does not work in The Industry. From what I saw, she did not laugh as hard or as often as I did, but she did laugh enough I could tell she enjoyed it. That, and she said after that she liked it, overall. "It had its moments" may be a fairly accurate quote.
Often, these self-referential pictures tickle Hollywood's funny-bone but don't reap in huge buckets of money as the rest of the world has quite a lot on its own plate already. It seems that the things that really make the movie people laugh are largely funny to the movie people themselves.
Having said that, it's still got fun moments. I probably wouldn't see it in theaters again, but I'd certainly watch it on DVD or cable.
I'll be very curious to see how well it plays outside of those circles. If you don't really watch a lot of movies, pay attention to marketing campaigns, or participate in or follow The Industry, it probably doesn't work quite as well. I caught it with Artemis who loves movies and TV shows, but does not work in The Industry. From what I saw, she did not laugh as hard or as often as I did, but she did laugh enough I could tell she enjoyed it. That, and she said after that she liked it, overall. "It had its moments" may be a fairly accurate quote.
Often, these self-referential pictures tickle Hollywood's funny-bone but don't reap in huge buckets of money as the rest of the world has quite a lot on its own plate already. It seems that the things that really make the movie people laugh are largely funny to the movie people themselves.
Having said that, it's still got fun moments. I probably wouldn't see it in theaters again, but I'd certainly watch it on DVD or cable.