Synopsis:
Ben Stiller. Jack Black. Robert Downey Jr.
Comedy fans can start drooling immediately at
the thought of these three funnymen joining
forces in TROPIC THUNDER. The men star as a trio
of actors whose filming experience in southeast
Asia gets a little too real as they must become
as tough as the characters they play to get out
of a crisis.
The Freak's Rating:
A : If the Academy of Arts & Sciences
(presenters of the Oscar) would recognize
comedic talent, Tropic Thunder would be this
year's front runner for every male acting award.
Tom Cruise would be a lock as Best Supporting
Actor and at least two of the three leads of the
film (Stiller and Downey Jr.) would be nominated
for Best Actor. Ultimately Downey Jr.
would win and receive a standing ovation as a
reel of his character slurring his speech and
spouting obscenities rolls on the screen behind
him. As it stands, comedy will continue to
be appreciated solely by movie-goers and awards
shows will continue to seem patronizing as they
ignore the difficulty of making someone laugh.
The writing of this film is brilliant. No
character is two dimensional in the film and all
seem to be developed just enough to garner
interest and not too much to overpower others.
Casting is pitch perfect and there is obvious
"fun on the set" seen in nearly every shot.
There are few holes in the script, instantly
forgiven as the sheer spectacle of the creative
comedic writing overshadows all. In the
Judd Apatow era, it is refreshing to see
something come from a writer as talented as
Stiller that can reignite the genre.
Nailing so many actor stereotypes so
beautifully, Tropic Thunder manages to poke fun
at the entire film industry, from agents to
studio heads to whiny actors.
Tom Cruise (loaded with prosthetics) has the
most wonderfully entertaining interpretation of
a studio head you might ever see on film, with a
booming voice and a super-ego to match.
Stiller and Black are reliably amusing in their
roles and both have elements of the film where
they steal the spotlight deservedly. Along
with Cruise, Robert Downey Jr. is nearly
unrecognizable through a camouflage of makeup.
Downey is hysterical in his role as Kirk
Lazarus, the most acclaimed actor on the team
who never breaks character.
The film starts out very strong, showcasing
movie trailers for all of these actors' upcoming
projects and instantly bonding you to the
ridiculousness of the film and its satiric take
on the industry. I laughed myself to tears
during some parts of this film. I know I
missed some jokes, but I'm only encouraged to
see it again that much more because of it.
Everyone in the theater was laughing right along
with me, male and female alike.
Some are picketing this film for its slams on
the mentally challenged community. Though
sometimes the film does stretch out the joke, it
is all in good fun and I'm proud of Stiller for
having the guts to leave it in. Believable
set design and makeup, decent action sequences,
entertaining physical humor and fantastic
delivery of some of the sharpest lines I've
heard since Superbad
make Tropic Thunder a fantastic comedy worthy of
your money at the multiplex.
Jen's
Rating: A : Hilarious! This movie was so so
funny. Scott and I were even talking about it
this morning on our way to work and laughing
about several parts. I already want to see it
again, I think it's going to be a classic
comedy. One of the funniest movie's I've seen
in a long time.
"Go tell the world what happened here"
Angie's
Rating: C : This movie crosses the line...
several times. I'm not sure what else to say
about it... Before I saw it, I wanted to love
it. I was really excited to see it, but I guess
I was overally distracted by some of the humor.
I am more and more starting to dislike Ben
Stiller comedies... the best one to date is
Keeping the Faith. I bet you can't guess why!
;) haha
Sebastian's
Rating: B : I'm sorry, i just don't know
what was soo good about this film. yes it was
pretty funny and i did laugh at times but i mean
it's not something i oculd talk aboutthe next
day. I have to say i was a little dissapointed.
Brian's Rating:
B : This was a good movie, but it was not
amazing. The thing about comedies is that
people tend to have widely varying tastes as to
what presses their humor button. This had both
some scenes and some lines that cracked me up,
however I did not find it as consistently funny
as something like "Burn After Reading".
Robert Downy Jr. does an awesome job playing an
Australian actor who is playing a black
soldier. Tom cruise is almost unrecognizable,
but is hilarious in his over-the-top role of an
executive producer.
I liked the movie, but it wasn't even my
favorite comedy for the last half of '08. I
would recommend seeing it, but do not share the
Freak's claim of it being the best comedy of the
year.
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