Tropic Thunder: Directorās Cut
Ben Stillerās return to the directorās chair has resulted in a comedy of epic proportions, successfully spoofing both war movies and the massive Hollywood egos that make them. The fact that he combines the visceral experience of war with belly-laughs is a good example of his skill here. Admittedly the film does take a good half hour to get going (though the opening trailers, especially Blackās, are hilarious with the way āThe Fattiesā takes a hard crap on both Eddie Murphy AND Kelly Osbourne), but once it does, the chemistry among the actors playing actors wandering thru the jungles of Nam is witty and exuberant, especially as carried along by Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus. Just staying on this side of the line from being completely offensive with his blackface, Downey comes off as amazingly believable, especially when he chastises another black actor for the use of the āNā word (using lyrics from the Jeffersons theme song). His Oscar nomination is surely in the bag, but if not for this being the year of the Ledger, so would the win. The rest of the cast is among the strongest this year: Stiller as Tugg Speedman has played this character type before, a guy who takes himself VERY seriously except for the fact that heās a boob. Sure, itās old hat for him now, but he still does it very well, particularly when he spoofs Brando in Apocalypse Now; Jack Black actually made me laugh out loud for the first time ever, probably because heās not miscast as his usual neāer do well lovable doofus, but as a pathetic drug-addled asshole whose addiction scale goes into overdrive when they encounter a heroin farm; Nolte is very good in his early scenes, but his character loses his bite when we find out the truth about him; Steve Coogan makes the most of his abbreviated role as the filmās novice director; Danny McBride as the filmās pyro guy rings true for me, most likely because Iāve encountered his type on actual movie sets before (the big-mouthed cocky jerk who acts important when there are a 100 other specialists who could do his job); Jay Baruchelās film-geek actor is appealing (love his giving props to Renny Harlin and Ford Fairlane), if not very believable (weāre supposed to buy that heās never had a girlfriend despite working on a major movie); Brandon Jacksonās rapper-turned-actor fits the clichĆ©s of his role well, but comes off best in his antagonistic interplay with Downey; McConaughey manages some smiles as Stillerās agent; and then there is Tom Cruise, spouting off lots of profanity while playing a somewhat offensive Jewish stereotype movie exec, but still getting laughs with the exception of one scene: When he coldly explains his intentions for Stiller, the scene is written and acted without a shred of irony, and the tacked on gimmick of him putting on a bad rap song and dancing afterwards is a bit jarring. For the most part though, the film stays funny to the final scene (Gotta love Jon Voight saying āFuck!ā into the camera after not winning the Oscar), and Stiller has crafted the best comedy of the year, something that Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith could take notes fromā¦
8/10