Tropic Thunder

Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr, Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise, Steve Coogan, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T Jackson

Dir. Ben Stiller
Scr. Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux & Etan Cohen

This movie is funny, gross, uncomfortable, tasteless, politically incorrect, self indulgent, satirical in spades … the list just goes on and on. And while it doesn’t hit the mark 100% of the time, it does so enough to keep you amused and glued to the screen. The acting is top notch – nothing is more wonderful to see than a bunch of actors refusing to take themselves seriously. I’m not the world’s biggest Ben Stiller fan by a long shot, but he does a solid job with Tropic Thunder. Mostly, one suspects, because he has enough movie star friends who want to lark about as much as he does.

Tropic Thunder is about a trio of hugely successfully actors trying to make the best war movie ever – Tugg Speedman (Stiller), the action hero who has done one too many sequels and is searching for credibility; Jeff Portnoy (Black), the bad boy, bad taste comic who is the king of the fart joke; and Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr), the multiple-Oscar award winning Aussie actor who takes method acting a little too far. Unable to handle his all-star cast and an out-of-control budget, director Damien Cockburn (Coogan) decides to drop this bunch of overpaid, spoilt actors in the deepest, darkest jungle and truly make a great movie. Convinced their every move is being filmed, the actors are oblivious to the real dangers lying in the jungle. And, well, hilarity ensues. Sometimes.

Tropic Thunder does suffer from some truly unfunny, broad humour. But, in this cinema-goers opinion, there are two things that truly save this film from becoming unbearable. The first is the spot-on piss-take of the film industry. The comic star who plays every character in a film. An actor taking “the method” to extremes by becoming black. The aging, failing action star who dumbs himself down in an attempt to win an Oscar. The omnipotent producer. The “he’s-so-hot-right-now” rapper trying his hand at acting. The war movie to top all war movies. These caricatures are so funny because they are so very true. And who better to play them than the likes of Stiller, Black, Downey Jr, McConaughey, Cruise and so on.

Which brings me nicely to reason number two that Tropic Thunder didn’t suck: that miraculous cast list. Stiller sure has friends in high places and friends that don’t mind being the butt of the joke. The stand-outs, by far, are Downey Jr and Cruise. Downey Jr has the most difficult acting job of the movie – playing a dude “playing a dude pretending to be another dude.” And it’s damn funny, especially the scenes between Lazarus and Alpa Chino (the black rapper played wonderfully by Brandon T Jackson), and the memorable sage words of an extreme method actor (“I don't read the script. The script reads me.”) And Cruise, well, what a wonderfully disgusting, disturbing performance he gives as the aptly named producer Les Grossman. He looks to be truly having a ball.

Tropic Thunder will definitely not be everyone’s idea of a good night out. I truly disliked parts of it. But there was certainly enough to keep me giggling and I applaud Stiller’s satirical skills and the whole cast’s willingness to truly ridicule themselves and their industry.

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Tyra Banks: You're not married, you're on the wrong side of 40, and child-less. Somebody close to you said: One more flop, and it's over.

Tugg Speedman: [pause] Somebody said they were close to me?