"TROPIC THUNDER" (2008) Review
"TROPIC THUNDER" (2008) Review
While playing a small role in Steven Spielberg’s World War II drama, "EMPIRE OF THE SUN", actor/comedian Ben Stiller came up with the idea of a group of prima donna actors filming a Vietnam War film. Some twenty years later, Stiller’s idea finally came to fruition in the 2008 action-comedy movie, "TROPIC THUNDER".
Stiller and fellow co-writers, Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen, created a hilarious and very original story about the misadventures of a group of actors filming a Vietnam War movie in Thailand. The movie began with a series of fake commercials and movie trailers that featured the following - rapper Alpa Chino promoting the "Booty Sweat" energy drink and "Bust-A-Nut" candy bar; a series of movie trailers that included action star Tugg Speedman's latest film, “Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown”; and another featuring low-brow comedian Jeff Portnoy's film, “The Fatties: Fart 2” that spoofed Eddie Murphy's portrayal of multiple characters such as in “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps”. But the final trailer - and the funniest in the bunch - featured Australian actor Kirk Lazarus and Tobey Maguire as two gay medieval monks in a parody of films like “Brokeback Mountain” called ”Satan’s Alley”.
But the meat of the story featured the three actors, the rap singer and character actor Kevin Sandusky as co-stars in ”Tropic Thunder”, a movie adaptation of the memoirs of a disabled Vietnam War veteran named "Four Leaf" Tayback. Unfortunately, the movie’s production ended up spiraling out of control and rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) seemed unable to handle the prima donnas or keep the movie on schedule. Studio executive Les Grossman ordered Cockburn to get the production back on track or risk having it shut down. With inspiration from Tayback, Cockburn dropped the spoiled actors into the middle of the jungle, where he had installed hidden cameras and special effect explosions rigged by pyrotechnics man Cody, so that he could shoot the film, "guerrilla-style". The actors used only a map and a scene listing to guide them to the helicopter waiting at the end of the jungle for them. Shortly afterward, Cockburn was killed after stepping on a land mine left by a previous war. But thanks to his preceding diatribe, only Lazarus realized that his death was real. Even worse, the actors ended up in the middle of the Golden Triangle, the home of the heroin-producing Flaming Dragon gang, led by its young leader, Tran. Also, Cody and Tayback end up as prisoners of the Dragons, who believed that the actors, Cody and Tayback were DEA agents.
”TROPIC THUNDER” not only struck me as a parody of the Hollywood movie industry, but also a parody of the lengths human beings go to create illusions about themselves. Tugg Speedman was a failing action star who had earlier attempted a serious role in order to save his career. I can only assume that "Tropic Thunder" was his second attempt. Yet, he seemed incapable of facing the possibility of becoming a has-been and depending upon his agent, Rick "Pecker" Peck (Matthew McConaghey) to maintain his ever deflating ego. Portnoy resorts to drug addiction to deal with the realization that his past success mainly came from his talent from flatulence humor. Lazarus is an Oscar-winning Australian method actor who has a bad habit staying in his role even when the cameras are not rolling. For ”Tropic Thunder”, Lazurus deliberately undertook an operation to change his skin pigmentation in order to portray an African-American sergeant. Naturally, Lazurus’ role produced resentment and anger from Alpa Chino, the rapper trying to break into films. But even Chino was projecting a façade about himself, which his fellow co-stars managed to break through near the end of the film. The only one in the bunch who seemed real was young Sandusky, the drama student who seemed to be the only sane head in the bunch. Yet, despite the fact the film bursting with Hollywood phonies, the biggest phony turned out to Tayback, who had never seen combat during the Vietnam War or was disabled. Even worse, he had spent the war aboard a Coast Guard ship that never left the U.S. He had originally written the book as a tribute to the U.S. servicemen.
I have to say that I felt more than impressed by the cast. Ben Stiller portrayed one of his best roles as Tugg Speedman, a Hollywood veteran struggling to save his career. Yet, his sanity nearly goes down the toilet when Tran and the Dragons force him to replay the scenes of his failed drama, ”Simple Jack”. By the time he was discovered by his fellow cast members, Speedman had gone by the way of Colonel Kurtz. I must admit that before "TROPIC THUNDER", I had difficulty finding Jack Black funny, but I must say that Jeff Portnoy was probably one of his best roles - hilarious without being over-the-top. I realize that drug addiction is nothing to laugh about, but his and Sandusky’s attempts to help him deal with withdrawal and reject the temptation of the Dragons’ own heroin struck me as rather funny. And honestly? Black had some of the best lines in the film. Nick Nolte and Danny McBride made an amusing comedy team. And I especially enjoyed their interaction when Cody discovers that Tayback was not a Vietnam veteran, but a phony. Matthew McConaghey gave an energetic performance as Speedman’s always eager agent. Brandon Soo Hoo gave an effectively scary performance as the pre-adolescent drug lord, Tran.
Most critics had lauded Robert Downey Jr.’s performance as the method actor Lazurus, who spends most of the movie trying to act like an African American. Downey Jr. was hilarious. In fact, I can honestly say that he was the second or third funniest member of the cast. His performance led to the actor's second Academy Award nomination. Downey Jr.'s most hilarious moment came on the heels of an argument between Lazurus and Chino, when he breaks into a litany about the black man’s 400 years of oppression (damn, has it been that long?) that ends with him singing the theme to "The Jeffersons". It took me nearly five minutes to recover from laughing. But Downey’s take on Kirk Lazurus could have ended in disaster without Brandon T. Jackson. One, Jackson's facial reaction to Lazurus' rendition of "The Jeffersons" theme song had me laughing. But more importantly, his Chino not only expressed anger at Lazurus’ portrayal of a black man but also provided some laughs via the pretty sharp zingers directed at the Australian actor's expense. One of Chino's zingers proved to be an insult about Lazurus’ Australian background. What made the scene so hilarious were Lazurus’ protests against Chino’s insults, while maintaining his charade as a black man. Weird. But in my opinion, the funniest performance came from Tom Cruise, who portrayed the arrogant and overbearing film producer, Les Grossman. The actor must have had a blast acting in this movie. His performance made that perfectly clear. Cruise was just simply hilarious . . . to the point that I now feel that he should have received an Oscar nomination, as well. Hell, a member of my family was surprised to discover that the balding, foul-mouthed man was actually Cruise.
I believe that Ben Stiller should be proud of "TROPIC THUNDER". Not only did he give an excellent performance, but he also co-wrote and directed what I believe should become a comedy classic. That is correct. A comedy classic. "TROPIC THUNDER" remains one of the best comedies I have seen in years - along with the British action comedy, "HOT FUZZ". It is my favorite Stiller movie . . . even more so than "STARSKY AND HUTCH" and "MEET THE PARENTS". The cast, led by Stiller himself, was superb. So was Jon Toll’s photography of the island of Kauai, which stood as both Vietnam and Cambodia. Stiller, Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen had created one hell of a comedy.