Tropic Thunder
by Ben Stiller
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anthony Ruivivar, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Jeff Kahn, Robert Downey Jr.Director: Ben Stiller
Brand: Paramount
Writer: Ben Stiller
Writer: Etan Cohen
Writer: Justin Theroux
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-11-18
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Dreamworks Video
Movie Reviews of Tropic Thunder
Movie Review: Great fun; Best American Parody in Recent History
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very funny movie that should tickle the funny-bone of fans of any war films, and any other comedy fans. Ben Stiller proves himself as being a better director than his previous attempt with Zoolander and Tropic Thunder is one of the best comedies of 2008.
We have a solid primary cast between Stiller, Black, and Downey Jr., but good old Robert Downey Jr. manages to steal most of the scenes from his co-stars as the white actor playing the black platoon sergeant ("I don't drop character until the DVD commentary").
There are plenty of star cameos, but the best (and most unexpected) comes from Tom Cruise, who plays a foul-mouthed, fat corporate executive. His cameo was originally intended to be kept a secret, but it was impossible to keep this appearance from leaking to the internet. Let me tell you, this man may want to move into comedy considering his current negative status among the public. He was SOLID in this movie. I would have never expected Tom Cruise to pull a role like this, but he did and he actually was incredibly funny in most of his scenes. The audience at my theater applauded when the credits showed his name.
Both Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise are qualified for the Golden Globe nominations! Only reason I think Cruise wouldn't have a good chance over Downey Jr. is because of his little screen time, as opposed to Robert Downey Jr., who's present throughout most of the film. (Both were nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Comedy/Musical)
Other notable appearances are by Nick Nolte, as a Vietnam Veteran, and Matthew McConaughey as the Ben Stiller character's agent. Tobey Maguire also makes a humorous appearance at the beginning of the film.
Overall I was tickled, and surprised by this very well-balanced cast of notable actors. Every actor in here gets off some good jokes, and in different styles of comedy. This film had lots of different types of jokes, ranging from parody, satire, drug addiction, slapstick, and just plain silly antics. This film had everyone in my audience laughing at one point or the other, through its many references.
I felt this redeemed a long string of horrifically bad American made parodies. I never liked the work of Matt Stone and Parker with their shows such as `South Park', and don't even get me started on this `Disaster Movie' nonsense. Only notable films I could spot were made by the Brits, with such brilliance as Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz. Tropic Thunder isn't as good as those two films, mind you, but it certainly beats out all recent American made parodies. I never felt offended, or attacked by this film. It set out to entertain, and it entertained me from start to finish.
Tropic Thunder is great fun!
Summary of Tropic Thunder
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 18-NOV-2008
Media Type: DVD
It's not really a knock to say that nothing in Tropic Thunder is funnier than its first five minutes, so sly that--especially for people watching in theaters--you don't realize right away they are the opening minutes of the movie. This outrageous comedy begins with a series of fake previews, each introducing one of the main characters in the film-proper (not that there's anything proper about this film) and each bearing the familiar logo of a different motion picture studio: Universal, DreamWorks SKG, et al. Such playing fast and loose with corporate talismans verges on sacrilege, but it's an index of how much le tout Tinseltown endorses the movie as a demented valentine to itself. The premise is that the cast of a would-be "Son of Rambo" movie shooting in some Southeast Asian jungle get into a real shooting war with drug-smuggling montagnards. Don't ask--though the movie does have an answer--why such highly paid, usually ultra-pampered personnel as superhero Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Mozart of fart comedy Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), hip-hop artist Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), and five-time Oscar-winner Kirk Lazarus from Aus-try-leeah (Robert Downey Jr.) should be running through the jungle unattended and very vulnerable. It matters only that the real-life cast has a high time kidding their own profession and flexing their comedic muscles. Bonus points go to Stiller for co-writing the script (with Justin Theroux) and directing, and to Downey, brilliant as a white actor surgically turned black actor for his role and utterly committed to staying in character no matter what ("I don't drop character till I done the DVD commentary").
Be warned: The movie, too, is committed--to being an equal-opportunity offender. Its political incorrectness extends not only to Lazarus's black-like-me posturing but also Speedman's recent, Sean Penn?style Oscar bid playing a cognitively challenged farmboy--or, in Lazarus's deathless phrase, "going the full retard." Others in the cast include Steve Coogan as a director out of his depth, Nick Nolte as the Viet-vet novelist whose book inspired the film-within-the-film, Matthew McConaughey as Speedman's sun-blissed agent back home, and Tom Cruise--bald, fat-suited, and profane--as an epically repulsive studio head. Two hours running time is a mite excessive, but otherwise, what's not to like? --Richard T. Jameson
Stills from Tropic Thunder (Click for larger image)
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