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If you're looking for a break between fifth and sixth viewings of the latest Batfilm, then trade comics for comedy as Ben Stiller's mock-war epic TROPIC THUNDER unleashes a squad of genuine jokers and some laugh out loud gags into theaters August 13th.
Stiller directs this often sharp-biting satire of pampered Hollywood actors dropped into a jungle to add unexpected realism in their over budget Vietnam pyro-pic.
Fortunately TROPIC THUNDER does not lean entirely on this film within a film device as it skewers Tinseltown ethics (or lack thereof) and above-the-title egos of undertalented stars. When the Asian jungle turns out to be infested with henchmen for a diminutive drug lord, the method-technique shinola hits the Huey blades as the action stars attempts to act their way out of a lethal turf war.
A brazen mix of crude gags, low-brow humor and smart send-ups, TROPIC THUNDER escalates in outrageous laughs to win the hearts and funny bones of audiences. |
| Enjoying the hottest summer of his career is Robert Downey Jr. and his dazzling effort as an Oscar-laden thespian Kirk Lazarus extends the win streak. Downey can't help but steal the film's thunder as the blond, blue-eyed Auzzie actor who undergoes pigmented plastic surgery to play an African-American soldier in the war flick. Naturally the physical transformation is a delightful achievement in makeup, but even more impressive is Downey's in-film switcheroo from Lazarus to 'be' Lincoln Osiris, since he resembles neither persona at all. His character's observation in the DMZ rings just as true for Downey's performance: "I know who I am. I'm the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!" Just like his early-summer superhit, Downey's work here is worth the ticket price alone as he delivers laughs on multiple levels and carries a serviceable film home (hefted over his shoulder) to comedic glory. |
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Stiller's directing duties may have attained the perfect balance of his on-screen time, for those like me who enjoy his acting in small but effective doses. The script, co-written with with Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen, sets up Stiller as the dim-witted, failing action star Tugg Speedman, the film's laughable target from the opening frames of the faux-trailer previews. It's a cleverly used comedic device which sets the film's irreverent, brash attitude quickly and with gusto. Credit where it's due: nobody plays intellectually vacuous characters as well as Stiller, and likely never as often either. For better or worse, Stiller has made a cottage industry of this practice, but succeeds handily here as the self-involved stooge whose greatest acting failure becomes a hilariously redeeming virtue.
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Other recruits in this mission impractical are: Jack Black as drug-strung Jeff Portnoy, a pitiful comedian forever enslaved in a profitable series of fart-joke films; Brandon T. Jackson as the hip-hop star and wannabe actor Alpa Cino, a hawker of Booty Sweat energy drinks and Bust-A-Nut candy bars yearning to emulate his cinematic idol; and Jay Baruchel as newbie actor Kevin Sandusky, the only cast member who bothered to study in boot camp and read the harrowing based-on novel by a Vietnam hero.
While Black has a surprisingly small role in comparison to his top billing, he shares well with his fellow supporting cast as they all get their moments to steal and earn solid laughs. The bespectacled Sandusky and sass-spouting Alpa Cino not only play the frightened youths heli-dropped into Vietnam's bloody battles, they have fun turning the cinematic cliché on its ear with their 'real world' personas. |
Indeed the entire cast sends up how Hollywood's blockbuster mentality engages in the stunt casting of inappropriate actors purely for marketing needs: a silly system that would cut Martin Sheen and cast Keanu Reeves to sell the Vietman war as 'APOCALYPSE NEO'. Such celluloid absurdity is then folded back on itself for further comic effect in the guise of newcomer Brandon Soo Hoo, the child drug lord Tran who rules his jungle empire with a tiny but lethal fist. Pitting this troupe of down-and-outmatched actors against this pre-teen terror and his goon squad of movie-loving marauders adds yet another layer of cliché-busting humor to the mission.
Peeling back these layers of cinematic surrealism, Tugg Speedman is spoon-fed ego trips by his suntanned agent Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey) in an uncredited role spearheading the Hollywood satire at hand. Fighting for Speedman's artistic integrity (and a high-def Tivo clause in his contract), Peck battles the paunchy, raunchy, balding bear of a studio demigod, Les Grossman, hilariously enacted by none other than Tom Cruise -- and here's a FilmEdge guarantee: delight in Cruise or despise him, you likely will never enjoy laughing at and with him more than you will in this powerhouse cameo.
It is Grossman's take no prisoners attitude on film budgets which force the effete British director (Steve Coogan) into dropping his cast into the jungle to complete production guerilla-style. Likewise he is urged to forsake rationality by the novel's author 'Four Leaf' Tayback (Nick Nolte), an armless vet serving as creative consultant to realize his tribute to fallen comrades.
Comedic twists ensue as the Hollywood players on two continents veer farther away from reality just to complete this hapless film. The more dire their predicaments become, the more outrageous the laughs get, including those garnered by Danny McBride as the pyromaniac effects expert working with Tayback to keep the cast under dodging bullets and explosions until the real drug war intervenes on location. |
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Be warned that this raucous comedy earns its R rating due to its harsh and sometimes gruesome gallows humor. The fearless (perhaps reckless) script doesn't shy away from attacking racial issues, political correctness and American appetites for violence. Such targets get entire salvos of satirical punchlines blasted into them on autofire, so at times audiences will find themselves laughing in spite of their better judgment — but this is where the film's refusal of a safety net pays off. From its reliance on over-used 1970s Nam-era songs to set up expectations then explode them with trip-wire gags, to glorifying Coppola-esque napalm cinematography then skewering how such excesses bloat Hollywood action films, TROPIC THUNDER plays out both sides of the battle and handily wins the war for comedic overkill.
Sillier and occasionally plain stupider than one would expect, yet more subtle and quick-witted than most genre-bending films of the past five years, Stiller, Downey and their garage-band of brothers set a domino chain of laughs falling from the opening moments to the final credits. War may be hell, but TROPIC THUNDER is a gloriously gutsy comedy just waiting to ambush unsuspecting audiences seeking movie escapism amid the dog days of summer. Tighten your chin strap, soldier — you may just die laughing.
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