Tropic Thunder
TROPIC THUNDER (15)
D: Ben Stiller
Dreamworks/Red Hour (Stuart Cornfeld, Ben Stiller &
Eric McLeod)
US/UK/Germany 2008
102 mins
Comedy/War
W: Justin Theroux, Ben Stiller & Etan
Cohen
DP: John Toll
Ed: Greg Hayden
Mus: Theodore Shapiro
Ben Stiller (Tugg Speedman), Jack Black (Jeff
Portnoy), Robert Downey, Jr. (Kirk Lazarus), Steve Coogan (Damien Cockburn), Jay Baruchel (Kevin Sandusky), Danny McBride (Cody Underwood), Nick Nolte (Sgt. John 'Four
Leaf' Tayback), Brandon T. Jackson (Alpa Chino), Matthew McConaughey (Rick Peck), Tom Cruise (Les Grossman)
Tropic Thunder is a bit of a mess, mostly due to cramming
in far too many comedy styles which don't compliment each other.
The film begins as a satire on Hollywood whilst parodying
the troubled real-life production of Apocalypse Now, as Tropic Thunder, a film within the film, runs behind schedule, over budget, with an inexperienced director (Coogan) struggling to handle
the big egos in his cast (Stiller, Black, Downey, Jr.).
The funniest moments come in the opening scenes, but soon
descends into farce when the cast are left stranded deep in the jungle, where they're convinced it's all part of the director's filmmaking style, when they're really facing genuine peril from
a guerrilla drug gang.
For many, Robert Downey, Jr.'s performance made the film,
playing an Auatralian luvvy who dyes his skin pigment so he can play a black army sergeant with the same attitude as Mr. T's character from TV's The A-Team.
The real scene-stealer here though is Tom Cruise's
virtually unrecognisable cameo as foul-mouthed and grotesquely abusive film producer, Les Grossman.
Enjoyable, but less than the sum of all its
parts.
6/10
