Thursday, 04 September 2008

• Movie Review: Tropic Thunder

  

  Tropic Thunder is what you get when you mix, comedy, war, satire, and Jack Black farting.  Directed and cowritten by Ben Stiller, the movie is about making a movie within a movie with movie actors in different kinds of movies.  Basic story follows a group of actors making a Vietnam epic war movie and ends up fighting drug lords in the Vietnamese jungle. 

  The true gem of the movies are the characters themselves - all identifiable stereotypical hollywood actors.  Ben Stiller plays the has-been action star looking for a role to bring him back.  Jack Black plays the troubled comedian who basically lost his funny from doing the same things over and over.   And the unforgettable Robert Downey Jr. who plays a serious oscar winning method actor looking to find himself by playing the most diverse roles.  In the end, what the movie actually does is poke fun at Hollywood - and just how ridiculous it can get.

  Rating: I had trouble rating this one - so much trouble, that I actually had to create a new rating: Theaterable If You have a $6 Movie Theater Voucher

  FTW: Filled with surprising cameos from famous actors, and the pure joy when you identify how it makes fun of Hollywood - makes this movie good.  Almost every movie cliche is in here while the movie also breaks every politically correct limit.  The sad thing is, you still end up laughing.  Afterall - it's a satire, it's an exaggerated snippet of the worst in all of us.

  FAIL: For a rated R flick - not surprisingly there was strong language, crassness, violence, sexual references, drug use...the list goes on.  There's a lot of great quotes you can pull from this movie, but the movie overall is filled with shock value.  But the movie also suffers from something else I notice in bad comedies - recycling.  In particular, Robert Downey Jr's character is so serious about his role, he goes through a controversial pigmentation process to play the African american character in the vietnam movie.  Ben Stiller rides this joke throughout the whole movie.  Some of the jokes get old pretty fast...Nevertheless, Downey is great in this....an expectation from the Ironman.

  Can you take your mother to this?  uh - no.  There's gore, drug use, and Jack Black in a speedo.  If you take her to this, she'll probably mention how you never clean your room.  And then you'll wonder why she brought that up after watching the movie.

  Can you take your kids to this?  Definitely not.  There's just too much strong language, adult themes, violence, racism, and everything else.  In addition, you have to have watched a lot of movies to fully appreciate the references made in the movie - which I really think was the gem of the story.

  The Christian Spin: The big take away is the emptiness the movie characters all seem to possess.  We all know what it feels like to be taken down a notch.  And how we desperately try to redeem ourselves - either through our work, hiding behind masks, or even using other material things to fill the void (drugs, hobbies, drinking..etc.)  It begs the question - why do we continue to try to fill our God shaped holes with other things?

  Final Thoughts: I keep staring at the movie poster on this post.  Notice how it says "Black" then "Downey Jr."  Clever hollywood.

  I dunno about you, but I realize - I'm not a huge fan of 'crass' shock value movies.  Movies like "There's Something About Mary" or even "American Pie"....I just don't see the fun in them.  Am I missing something here - thinking that it's not that funny?

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