Unbelievable and Unbelievably Silly

Tropic Thunder has to be one of the silliest movies I can recall seeing in a long, long time. It’s not a perfect film, by any means, with several scenes just a little too odd to be genuinely funny yet the film does have many highlights which will keep you chuckling long after you’ve left the theater.

Plot: There’s not a lot of space to waste here regarding the plot; if you’ve managed to see a trailer for this then you’ve managed to see the entire plot. A small group of actors consisting of Robert Downey Jr, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, and Brandon T. Jackson get dropped off in the middle of a Vietnam jungle where they believe they’re filming one of the most expensive action films based on the book Tropic Thunder, written by Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte). Shortly after getting dropped off by their director, Damien (Steve Coogan), he gets killed and the actors are left to survive the jungle on their own, all the while thinking they’re still filming an action flick. Things become a bit too realistic for the group, especially once they come into contact with a drug smuggling operation which mistake the realistically dressed actors as actual American military or D.E.A. and become obsessed with killing them rather than surrendering.

As you may have been able to guess from the trailers, Robert Downey Jr. steals the show here, with almost every word of his dialogue being hysterical and his delivery even more so. In fact, he overshadows the others so badly that whenever he’s not on screen, you’re glued to your seat anxiously awaiting his return. Robert Downey Jr. has been knocking it out of the park this summer and Tropic Thunder simply adds to his astounding track record. Ben Stiller, as always, seems to try really hard yet can never actually achieve any real acting. He sold us all in There’s Something About Mary because he was perfectly casted in the role. Unfortunately for us, Stiller can’t actually act and we’ve been stuck dealing with his same comedic shtick for over ten years now. At least, to his credit, with Tropic Thunder, he’s almost making fun of himself by playing an actor who just can’t act. Which, ironically enough, isn’t a stretch for Stiller. Maybe if he rewatches Permanent Midnight enough he’ll remember what it’s like to truly dive into a role. Maybe. Jack Black is a complete waste here, that is, until the third act. Once the group decides to truly ‘act’, Black’s comedic prowess kicks in and he’s in full comedic gear. In fact, I can’t think of a film where Black’s been funnier, though it is saddening that it had to wait until the film was nearly over to happen. Both Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson serve up pleasantly surprising comedic performances and both give their best performances to date as well. Jay has struggled for a long time to find himself in the film world and oddly enough, he found it at the directing hands of Ben Stiller. If Jay continues to stick to roles where he isn’t required to act like an uneducated sapling, he’ll be advancing his career by leaps and bounds. Nick Nolte and Danny McBride both have significant roles here, with both of them playing off one another’s stupidity when it comes to laughs. It was nice to see McBride’s return to funny-man after his disappearing minor role in Pineapple Express. More of McBride is never, ever, a bad thing. And of course, one can’t write a review of Tropic Thunder without mentioning the two ‘cameos’ of Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey. Tom Cruise seemed to be having a lot of fun here, but it was kind of hard to tell just how much underneath all the makeup he was wearing. He overplays his role of Les Grossman to perfection, but one has to question exactly why Tom is here. He’s hidden, the character’s obnoxious, and the profanity coming out of his mouth is something unheard of for Cruise. While it’s good to see an actor take a turn trying something they haven’t really done before, but here it’s just unclear what the real joke is. Is it funny because he’s an ugly, pathetic looking man who yells and cusses a lot? Or is it funny because it’s Tom Cruise playing him. I’d like to think Cruise can come up with a much better way to show off his comedic side. As for McConaughey, let’s just say his lines would have been much, much better hand they come from Owen Wilson instead. Though everyone is quite happy that Wilson is recovering and still with us, it is sad to see a role written specifically for him go to someone else. Especially when it went to someone who lacks the appropriate comedic abilities to do the part justice.

Stiller’s directing is loads better than his performance, and the only thing the film really suffers from is too many jokes missing their marks. The killing of an unseen wild animal to survive works flawlessly, yet jokes like character’s names (Tug Speedman, Les Grossman, Alpa Chino, etc) end up being more distracting than funny. And then there’s also the oddity of certain scenes (typical of Stillers’ career as of late) which hamper the fun. The joke about the adopted son fall flat as does the Simple Jack ongoing joke. While the appropriate activist groups are upset over certain word usage going on in the film, it is a bit more understanding considering the joke goes on for far too long (the entire film). The message the film sends may be clear that celebrities should stop acting as mentally handicapped individuals, but again, if someone could just whisper into Stiller’s ear that ‘less-is-more’ the film would have been vastly better.

The film is hilarious and one owes it to oneself to see it. Make sure to show up early though, as the ‘fake’ trailers before are something not to be missed.