Let me start this off by saying I'm not exactly the biggest Ben Stiller fan. At least, not anymore. I was a fan of his work back when he did stuff with Janeane Garofalo in the late 90's, and I still think Mystery Men is one of the great forgotten Superhero movies. But after his huge succes with Meet The Parents, it seemed that all he made were really bad comedies for people going on dates. Dublex, Along Came Polly, Meet The Fockers, Night at the Museum, you name it and they've pretty much all been bad.
Sure there have been some exceptions through the years. Keeping the Faith is a great movie, as is Dodgeball. Even his cameo in Anchorman as the host of the Mexican news team was really funny. I guess I've just always thought he was his best when part of an ensemble cast. As a leading man he's just never done it for me. However, I have to admit the one time that he wrote, directed and starred in his own movie, I absolutely loved the film. Zoolander is to me one of the funniest movies ever. I don't know why, and I know not everyone likes it, but I loved that film for some strange stupid reason.
I feel that way about Tropic Thunder too. This was easily the best comedy I've seen yet this year. The casting of the characters was brilliant and and Stiller did a stellar job as Writer and Directer. Tropic Thunder is a film about the making of a film. The characters in the film are all actors that are on the set of their latest project, a large big budget Vietnam war movie. However, along the way they get dropped into the Jungle and find themselves in a real life war-like situation and they find themselves forced to really become the soldiers they are pretending to be.
Stiller himself plays the large hollywood action hero Tugg Speedman. Think of him like Sylvester Stallone. He's a big star whose career is on a downhill slide after a failed attempt at playing a serious role, that of a mentally retarded person. Robert Downey Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, a multi-time oscar winning actor who has put himself through plastic surgery to play the roll of a black Sargeant in the film. Jack Black plays a coked out comedian named Jeff Portnoy who is famous for making films that are eerily close to Eddie Murphy's Nutty Professor films. Brandon T. Jackson plays Alpa Chino, a rap star and media mogul who hawks his own energy drink Booty Sweat and his power bar Bust A Nut. And lastly, Jay Baruchel plays the newbie actor Kevin Sandusky who is starring in his first big film.
The movie starts off with one of the most creative intros I've ever seen. Before the movie actually starts, we see a series of previews for upcoming films starring the characters from the movie. We see a commercial for Booty Sweat starring Alpa Chino, and then we see trailers for a movie about gay priests starring Kirk Lazarus and the Tobey Maguire, Jeff Portnoy's latest farting comedy film and Tugg Speedman's latest action sequel Scorcher VI. Having these at the start of the movie was a great idea because it instantly introduced the audience to the main cast without lengthy dialog scenes. So by the time the actual "film" begins, we are already up to speed.
Once Tropic Thunder gets rolling, it really is a pitch perfect Action Comedy. Robert Downey Jr.'s black sargeant steals just about every scene he is in, whether he's arguing with Ben Stiller over how to properly emote during a scene, or dispensing sage-like advice to Alpa Chino. He's so perfect in the role that I couldn't imagine another actor playing it. Hell, I couldn't even imagine an actual black actor playing the role better. If you loved him as Tony Stark in Iron Man, you're going to love him even more here.
Where the film really does excel though is as a witty lampoon of hollywood and the big blockbuster movie business. All of the characters are exaggerations or references to real life people. Much like Stiller's Stallone or Jack Black's Eddie Murphey, the entire film is a clever rip on hollywood itself, complete with agents, assistants, first time directors and contract disputes over Tivo. The film is also full of random cameos with such people as Matthew McConaughey, Jason Bateman, Alicia Silverstone, Lance Bass, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jon Voight making guest appearances.
Hands down though, the best guest star appearance goes to Tom Cruise, who plays high powered movie executive Les Grossman. Regardless of what you think of Cruise, what with him being a crazy ass Scientology guy, he's seriously damned funny in Tropic Thunder. He's a fat, bald, hairy movie executive who is all powerful and expects the world to do exactly as he says. His scene on the phone with the terrorists is comic gold and I'm glad Tom took this role, because it goes a small way to redeeming him in the minds of the general public.
Overall, I really enjoyed Tropic Thunder. It has a good amount of high action, likeable characters, an amusing plotline and intelligent humor. Plus Robert Downey Jr. in black-face. You really don't get much better than that. If you're looking for a good laugh, go check this one out.
Final Verdict: 4.5 Stars out of 5
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