Tropic Thunder

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have high expectations for this film, given that it features both Ben Stiller and Jack Black, two of modern comedy’s heavyweights. And I have to say that the film didn’t disappoint. The fake trailers screened before the real meat of the story actually began were enough to make me laugh out loud; from the spoofing of action films to the mocking of one-joke comedies.

Following the escapades of a band of clueless actors venturing well outside their comfort zone, the film is straight up satirising the film industry, its actors and the films it produces. As an indicator of this, we have Tugg Speedman (Stiller), the action hero who many consider to be far beyond his prime, Jeff Portnoy, (Jack Black), the comedian determined to gain credibility by evolving as a “serious” actor, Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey jr.) the Australian method actor, Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), the rapper turned actor and Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), the newcomer. Other notable roles are the director, Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), grouchy studio head, Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) Speedman’s agent, Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey), explosives expert, Cody (Danny McBride) and “war veteran” Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte).

Whilst attempting to shoot their war film (titled Tropic Thunder) “guerrilla-style,” the team come up against some definite obstacles; the death of their director is one and their mistaking a drug-producing gang for fellow cast-mates is another. Speedman decides to break away from the group and is later captured by the gang, so it’s up to his team to rescue him.

The dialogue between Alpa and Kirk (fully decked out to play an African American soldier in the “film within the film”) was a riot by itself; “You’re Australian!” Alpa stresses to Kirk. “Be Australian!” And if you can’t find any humor in Downey jr.’s harsh “Suck my unit,” then I guess this isn’t your type of humor. The comedy ranges from the crude to the gory, and the script writers (of which Stiller was one) definitely weren’t afraid to take risks.

The performance I was (mostly pleasantly) surprised about was that of Tom Cruise. He appears in a fat suit, balding and foul-mouthed as Les Grossman and, to his credit, gains laughs with some memorable dialogue (most of which would contain an f-word or two). The actual need to have him dance to Low by Flo Rida for such a prolonged period of time was questionable though and, I must say, was one of my least favourite sections of the film, given that it was overdone. However, I give credit to Cruise for proving that he can pull off humor.

In terms of amusing one-liners, I’d have to take my hat off to Downey jr. because he most certainly had a number of them and pulled them off perfectly. His transformation from the brash and sometimes offensive soldier into the soft-spoken and strikingly blue-eyed Australian was something quite remarkable. I was less impressed with the role given to Jack Black; although a talented comedian, it felt as though his character lacked a certain spark. He definitely didn’t get as many laughs from me as Downey jr. did.

My favourite line? I’d struggle to single out one and stand by it, but I’d have to say that Downey’s “I’m a lead farmer, motherfucker!” certainly stood out. The entire section in which they infiltrate the gang’s base was highly laugh-worthy, from the disoriented Speedman’s nonsensical babble to Lazarus’ identity crisis.

All in all, in my opinion, this film has the potential to become one of the biggest action-comedy hits of the year.