TROPIC THUNDER (2008)

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""You went full retard man.""

I only found out about this movie 2 months before its' release, and I figured it would be the best comedy of the year. So far, it is, but I expected a bit more in runtime and climax. I saw it the day after it came out, so this review is a littlte late I know.

After a disasterous on-location accident, the director of 'Tropic Thunder' the movie decides to dump his 5 lead actors in the jungles of Southeast Asia with hidden cameras to capture the action and drama of a semi-real situation with 3 panzies , a rapper, and an overly cautious nerd trying to survive in the jungle, but when they venture out of Vietnam on accident and beyond the boudaries of a makeshift cocaine factory, things get really hyped up...for both better, and worse.

Ben Stiller (Meet The Parents/Meet The Fockers/Night At The Museam/Envy/Zoolander) plays Tugg Speedman, an action star whose been in six 'Scorcher' films, and is cast in the leading role of 'Tropic Thunder' after his disappointing portrayal of 'Simple Jack' the mentally handicapped person. When the movie turns out to actually be real, Tugg is the only one who really doesn't believe it, nor gets a clue as time goes on as the other actors do. After his separation from the group, he really demonstrates his bad action movie acting skills (the character that is, not Ben) and keeps taking it over the top as time goes on from there getting real primal and stuff. This role reminded me of Stiller's other various movie appearances. It was kinda like a cross between Derek Zoolander and Gaylord Focker.

Jack Black (Shallow Hal/School Of Rock/Envy/Nacho Libre/The Holiday) plays Jeff Portnoy, a comedian who's been in 2 'Fatties' films that clearly isn't the smartest comedian of the bunch. He proves to be the real panzy when thrust into Southeast Asia, and even goes as far as to tackle an ox and request to be chained to a tree to restrain his cocaine cravings. He also didn't contribute anything of help to the other actors while in the jungle.This was his funniest role yet.

Robert Downey Junior (A Scanner Darkly/Zodiac/Lucky You/Iron Man/Sherlock Holmes) plays Kirk Lazarus, an Austrailian award winning actor who gives off the impression that he's rather stuck-up without actually doing anything to suggest that. It just seems to come off him, so to speak. After undergoing a procedure to dye his skin black for a role as a Platoon Sargeant in 'Tropic Thunder' the movie, he begins to act black, talk black, and pretend that he really is black having no real knowledge of their culture or struggles. He takes command of the troop of 3 actors after separating from Tugg, and still acts his part, despite having been the first actor to realize almost immediately that they weren't in a movie anymore. Yet he doesn't even know why he can't or won't drop his act. Downey was hilarious, and this was by far his most enjoyable roles to watch, as he really does steal the movie.

Brandon T. Jackson (Ali/8 Mile/House Of Grimm/Roll Bounce/Envy/Big Stan) plays Alpa Chino, a rapper and endorser of the energy drink 'Booty Sweat.' His purpose seemed to be just for the punchline to whatever black thing Lazarus would say or assume, seeing as Alpa really is black, and knows all the things that Lazarus doesn't. He too takes the situation seriously, and tries to keep the other actors from losing their minds. I've never heard of Brandon before, but he was good in this movie.

Jay Baruchel (Million Dollar Baby/Knocked Up/Just Buried/Real Time/Fanboys)plays actor Kevin Sandunsky. He's nerd like, also takes the situation seriously, and is righteously cautious about the actions that the 4 of them should take to survive the jungles of Southeast Asia. He was funny, and his purpose seemed to be for comparison to how panzy like the other actors really are. I've never heard of this guy either, but he was good nonetheless.

Steve Coogan (Marie Antoinette/Night At The Museam/ For The Love Of God/Hamlet 2/Safety Glass) plays Damien Cockburn, the director of 'Tropic Thunder' the movie that is mocked by his crew and hated by the execs. After the disasterous on-location incident, he takes advice from the writer of 'Tropic Thunder' who suggests that he should actually place the actors in semi-real danger in the jungles of Vietnam with hidden cameras to capture the action they deliver from their scripts. However, Damien doesn't seem to guide them on their jungle quest in light of...unanticipated delays. Once again, I've never heard of this guy until recently, and thought he was convincing as the guy whose not taken seriously.

Nick Nolte (Northfork/Hulk/The Beautiful Country/Hotel Rwanda/Nine Miles Down/King Shot) plays Four Leaf Layback, the writer of 'Tropic Thunder,' and veteran of the Vietnam War. He comes up with the brilliant idea to dump off the actors in the jungles, but is quickly apprehended along with the cameraman by guards of a local cocaine plant, and soon the truth comes out. Nick was convincing as a hardass veteran, but wasn't too funny in the role. I haven't seen him in much else either.

Matthew McConaughey (How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days/Sahara/Failure To Launch/We Are Marshall/Fool's Gold) plays Tugg's agent Rick Peck who would risk his own life just to make sure that Tugg gets his TIVO on the set ASAP. His arguments with the studio executive for Tugg's safety however can be thwarted a bit easier than expected. He was funny in the role, but didn't have much of a mind to think for himself. So it was pretty much a cameo appearance, since the role could easily have been cut from the film. Matthew was still good though.

Tom Cruise (Risky Business/Jerry McGuire/Minority Report/War Of The Worlds/Mission: Impossible Trilogy) plays studio executive Les Grossman. He's a wannabe gangster like guy that always goes for the money instead of morality. The role was pretty much a cameo as well, and did nothing but mock Tom Cruise's acting abilities. He wasn't really funny either, but his concepts were. And Tom was, well, just himself.

As for the controversy surrounding the casting of a white guy as a black guy, it was really stupid, since that was the whole source of the character's comedy-a white guy trying to be a black guy. Since it wasn't like they put make-up on Downey to have him play a black person for the whole film, in which case, that would be twisted and going back to the routes of D.W. Griffith's shitty film "Birth Of A Nation" which had absolutely NO historical accuracy at all, and was just a super racist, and pro-confederate film that made it's way into AFI's collection of film greats, seeing as they actually have the original prints. Point being, if that was the case with the Lazarus character, then it would be going backward in THAT direction that I described, but since it wasn't, then the contraversy's arguments were completely unfounded on any facts, and just on immense misunderstandings. So all it did was attract more attention to the film.

As for the OTHER contraversy about the use of the word 'retard' in the film, while the argument IS justly founded by Lazarus saying that real 'retards' have no abilities when comparing them to the abilities of those portrayed in Hollywood, then you have to understand that LAZARUS is making the claims, and being a stuck-up actor (Kirk not Robert) with potentially low morals to dye his skin for a movie role, then he's not exactly anywhere near being a moral compass in this film, and his comments should not be taken seriously. So this contraversy as well just attracted more attention to the film.

However, despite all these positive character analysis,' the movie coulda been a little longer runtime instead of a mere 106 minutes, which is average for a comedy, but THIS type of comedy that's a satire on their own business was just calling for more screentime, especially for Downey Junior and Jack Black. They needed a bit more of their comedy in my opinion instead of focusing a lot of the second half on Stiller's predicament. The climax as well seemed a bit more action based, but it had it's funny moments. I'd have just liked to see each actor have his moment like they get in real action movies.

Overall, the movie was a satire on actors, their ridiculous demands on set, and how much of a panzy they can be when thrust away from the luxurious comforts of a trailer. Ben Stiller spent 9yrs writing the script, so you know he had to have been basing this saterical comedy on such things to take so long to nail down the attitudes of everyone in the business, including the actors, agents, directors, executives, and writers. He hadn't even intended to play the lead until he had a pretty concrete idea as to who would be playing the other characters in the film. All of these things made this a great movie, and one I'd like to add to my collection.