Tropic Thunder – The Sound of Summer Laughter
The plot itself is nothing new, Hollywood has been skewering itself since its very beginnings. The characters are stereotypes and/or caricatures that have been done before. When it should have been witty, it leans on bodily function jokes. While it is derivative, I laughed my ass off. Over and over again.
I was intrigued about this film because the reviews have run from horrible to brilliant, and any film that generates more press about the use of the word “retard” than the hilarious performance of Tom Cruise during the week before its release is enough to draw me in.
Tropic Thunder is a smart send-up of the war films of the last 30 years wrapped around a spoof of Hollywood and everything that is wrong (and hilarious) about it. The film channels Platoon and Apocalypse Now, yet references smaller films such as Heart of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, dumbed-down comedies like The Nutty Professor (the Eddie Murphy ones, not the Disney film), and even in parts Zoolander – although I don’t know if that is intentional or if it is because Ben Stiller has a limited range of facial expressions for funny.
Tropic Thunder is the story of five actors working on a floundering war film in Vietnam who are left in the jungle so that the director can shoot the film guerilla style, giving the actors the realism they lack while cutting costs, only to come under attack by a jungle drug cartel.
The requisite fart and piss jokes are present, as well as booty jokes, and I kept waiting for the titty jokes. My favourite joke in the film is the leader of the large, heavily armed drug cartel operating in the Golden Triangle – a great debut by Brandon Soo Hoo – seemingly based on Johnny and Luther Htoo, the child leaders of a Burmese guerrilla army. I’m not sure if that was supposed to be an intentional reference, but Soo Hoo makes it intentionally funny. And, even if the joke is as old as the Academy of Arts and Sciences, Robert Downey Jr. gets a great dialog about how to win an Oscar for playing a mentally challenged person the right way that would have warranted a chuckle out of another actor, but only an actor of his caliber can make the scene hilarious.
He isn’t the only actor who delivers. While Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey play the same character they seemingly play in most films, there is a reason they are cast the way they are, Jack Black is always hilarious (in this film as an actor with a serious(ly) funny drug problem), and Matthew McConaughey playing funny and touching as he always does, although in this film he also has to stretch himself in a scene where he is astonished and disgusted, and he delivers. Brandon T. Jackson shines and it is obvious why he is a rising star. Ben Stiller delivers nothing new in this performance, and it doesn’t matter because he does comedy better than most comedic actors.
But, the film had me at Steve Coogan. I must confess that he has been one of my absolute favourite actors since I first saw him in 24 Hour Party People. He gives a stand-out performance, and I actually said, “oh no” aloud when his character is killed early in the film – partly because it was unexpected (and very funny), and partly because it meant he was leaving the screen.
One actor I don’t like is Tom Cruise. Why I think he is a waste of screen is irrelevant to this review, his relevance to this film is that he stole it from the top talent he was acting with. A foul-mouthed, violent, money grubbing producer (supposedly based on his old boss Sumner Redstone), it is the first time I have ever noticed (if not seen) him do comedy, and he is the funniest actor in this ensemble. He also dances. Dances really, really well. My first thought the first time he busted a groove was that he is one hell of a dancer, and then I remembered that it was his dancing that made him famous. Even in a fat suit that man can burn up a dance floor. His two dance sequences alone more than justified the $18 I spent on the film.
This isn’t a Great film, nor is it groundbreaking. Compared to the rest of the trash Hollywood has released this year, the film is among one of the best I have seen. I can understand why the professional reviews of the film ranged from lukewarm to brilliant – as a parody it doesn’t go far enough and is too easy on its subject matter for some reviewers, and for others it is brilliant because it takes names and most of the inside-the-business jokes are dead-on. I suppose that it depends on how the person reviewing the film views Hollywood and the War Film Genre. Yet, I can highly recommend this film to all as a light, refreshing, funny film that is hilarious in parts. If I were a film critic who graded films, as a parody, I give the film a “B-“. As a summer comedy on a humid day, this film is a refreshing “A”. You may not remember the funniest jokes a week after watching the film, but you will remember having fun watching the film for a long, long time.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
“Compared to the rest of the trash Hollywood has released this year, the film is among one of the best I have seen.”
Compared to the rest of the trash??* Wow, so Dark Knight, Iron Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Kung Fu Panda don’t even count??!? May be the films have not been eclectic in their subject matter or ‘dramatic’ as last year but man, this is some frustration I am witnessing.
*I am yet to see this movie.
Robert Downey is probably end up as probably one of the most influential actors of our times!
I like Jack Black;
Just watched “Be kind Rewind”,.
great Stuff,.. Highly recommend for those who are participating PFCOne 2
usual antics from everyone…except robert downey jr…fkin brilliant….
ul be better off watching pineapple express….judd apatow is fast becoming the Mel Brooks of our time…..
I love Jack Black. He is the whole package, he can sing, act, write, do drama and comedy, and always entertain. I am lucky that where I live I can also see his band play when they do shows.
I was hoping to watch both Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express yesterday, but there just wasn’t enough time…Abhay, you may be right about Judd Apatow…
“School of Rock” was great fun,..
I still cant forget the scene where
the character Jack Black hand over the cds of “Yes” and “Rush” to the young student
Well written. Makes me wanna watch this film…
good review bro
the movie was good, also were the performances, everyone was rockin and Ben stiller should be praised for such a direction, even am not sayin its groundbreaking and all that, but better than the crap I’ve seen in the last few months.
I’m dying to to Tropic Thunder. I will watch it this Tuesday.
Robert Downey Jnr is the best!
“Compared to the rest of the trash Hollywood has released this year, the film is among one of the best I have seen.”
— Just because you like/love a film doesn’t mean you have to trash everything around it to prove your point.
After the dark knight, Kung Fu Panda, WALL -E and Iron Man not to mention several moderately entertaining movies…and the Oscar season has not yet begun.
As for your Tom Cruise apathy… I don’t know how much of his work u have seen…but I will name one movie….Born on the 4th of July.
@ Sougata, I was about to tell you to read the comments before you post so you don’t sound like a dupe, then I realized that my comment responding to Tejas where I fleshed out that particular statement has been deleted.
I wonder if it was because I mentioned that I liked Singh is Kinng? Mentioned that I liked holding hands with my sweetheart in the theatre while being entertained? Not quite sure who I offended.
I won’t bother to repost my thoughts again, nor will I bother to respond to anymore comments. Consider the comments to this post closed.
My high expectations from this film killed it for me. I came away very dissapointed. I’m heartbroken!
Some Steve Coogan for you -
http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/btm/feature/2008/08/22/coogan/