Movies
When the Tongue Offends the Cheek - Tropic Thunder
Last week I ranted against the foolish, adolescent antics of movies like Pineapple Express, so I feel a little sheepish saying that I liked the new Ben Stiller film, Tropic Thunder. This movie, while containing more gratuitous violence and almost certainly more profanity, has a better, smarter story with an awesome ensemble cast coincidentally overlapping with regulars from the Apatow-Rogen camp.
The story, originated in the mind of Ben Stiller, follows a band of actors trying to make a war movie who end up, unbeknownst to them, getting mixed up in some real-life battle in the jungles of Vietnam. This fictional movie is supposed to be based on a book, Tropic Thunder, written by a veteran soldier, Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), who led a group of soldiers in a secret mission to retrieve a rogue soldier (Apocalypse Now!, anyone?).
The studio wants to shut down production on Tropic Thunder because it’s over budget and the rookie director (played by Steve Coogan) is having trouble handling his prima donna actors. In an effort to save the movie, Four Leaf suggests that he and the director shoot the movie guerrilla style, setting up hidden cameras all over the jungle and letting the actors loose. Of course, things go awry and the local militia cause trouble.
It’s a simple setup that blatantly references the real-life production fiasco of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now! in the late ’70s, but Tropic Thunder never steals from Apocalypse per se. It definitely integrates similar scenes in its story, but it plays out more like homage and humorous reference. And while the story’s basic framework references Apocalypse, the actual meat of the movie is a different animal altogether.
Movies that mock the film industry tend to be a bit too specific, losing the average non-film geek along the way. But Thunder relates its story with over-the-top humor, that, although vulgar and violent, is still very approachable to general audiences today. And in case you wanted a little more than just a dumb comedy, Thunder has a great ensemble cast led by awesome talent, and a layer of simple homage that can be appreciated by movie geeks as well.
Be aware though, it certainly earns its R rating. The film features gratuitously violent (yet comical?) moments involving severed limbs, heroin addiction, and an ocean of f-bombs. And aside from that, the movie is bound to offend with its comedic attacks on almost every minority, including racial groups and those Hollywood elite circles of agents, producers, and famous actors.
Now let me take a moment to mention the standout performance of Robert Downey, Jr. (who else?) as the White dude playing a Black dude, which no doubt will raise a few eyebrows. I’ve always admired his acting ability, particularly his recent display of talent in films like Zodiac and Iron Man. In Tropic Thunder, he plays Kirk Lazarus, a lily-white, multi-Oscar-winning Australian actor so dedicated to his craft that he’s literally lost his identity in the characters he plays. Although Lazarus (an obvious spoof on real-life actor Russell Crowe) is a definite crowd-pleasing, over-the-top character, Downey, Jr. seems to have found a way to infuse a real, albeit simplistic, inner conflict. Lazarus is cast as a Black man in the movie (within the movie), which of course is a ludicrous idea that results in a ton of laughs that ring truth about the ridiculosity of Hollywood. It makes it worse, or funnier, that an actual black character, played by Brandon T. Jackson (Roll Bounce) is cast in the movie, sort of like the “token Black guy,” losing the lead to Lazarus. This may seem offensive on the surface, but it is approachable commentary on media-race relations in Hollywood masked in the jokes.
Perhaps he doesn’t always know when to stop, and he ventures far into the awkward, vulgar, and dumb, but Stiller inserts commentary amidst the potty humor and profanity. As in Zoolander, Stiller employs his brand of “clever stupidity” in Tropic Thunder, transcending simple spoof into sizzling satire that speaks a little from a Hollywood insider’s perspective.
Full of tongue-in-cheek over-the-topness, Tropic Thunder aims to please while sending a small nugget of a message having something to do with being comfortable in your own skin, and achieving things you never thought possible through perseverance, blah, blah, blah. Ah, who am I kidding? The message might just as well be: Hollywood cares only about making money and exploiting the suffering of the few while hopefully anesthetizing you with multisensory entertainment. In that sense, Tropic Thunder becomes a indulgent display of Hollywood irony, biting the hand that feeds it. Oh, but how funny and action-packed is that irony indeed.
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Originally published at HollywoodJesus.com
I have to give credit to Greg Wright at HJ for giving this review a great title.
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