Possibly the worst film in many years

Rating: 1/10 (26 January 2009)

For some reason I ordered this on DVD (it was released this weekend). I had glanced at the IMDb score and thought "Good score, must be a fun way to kill a couple of hours..." How tragically and naively wrong I was.
Clearly the IMDb rating has been influenced or manipulated in some way by those with a vested interest. Nothing else could explain the current rating in relation to the vast majority of reviews.
So please pay attention to the following message: DO NOT BUY THIS FILM ON DVD - IT IS BEYOND DREADFUL.
I buy a lot of DVD's, but I am actually really angry that I wasted £10 on this, it is so staggeringly poor. I truly wish I could get my money back as I feel conned.
OK - the film. Well, many others here have already commented, but I am moved to say that rarely has such a total lack of talent been put before the public. I liked Stiller in "Zoolander" - pithy and clever. I quite like "Night at the Museum", and "Meet The Parents" was good fun.
"Tropic Thunder" on the other hand is a whole different barrel of excrement.
Given that it is written by, produced by, scripted by, directed by and starring Mr Stiller, I can only conclude that a/ he has not watched the film himself, or b/ it is noble of him to take the blame.
Some key points: - The script is incoherent, as is Downey Jnr (and most of the rest of the cast).

The script is desperately poorly written.

The plot premise is promising, but squandered in minutes.

The opening two minutes of the film (the spoof trailers) are the only amusing part of the film. It then goes off a cliff like a weighted Artic carrying a lorry load of lead balloons.

It's crude and crass. Not funny crude and crass. Just nauseatingly puerile and unpleasant. I can't even suggest it is schoolboy humour, as it isn't that sophisticated.

It isn't satire (satire is intelligent and makes a point). It isn't a spoof (a spoof is ludicrous and funny). It isn't "comedy" either (comedy makes you laugh and smile). It is actually almost a new genre entirely of it's own.

Jack Black is the worst he has ever been, and his character - a bloated "comedy star" obsessed with hard drugs is so repellent that I spent the entire agonising length of the movie with my face a fixed mask of horror (according to my better half who also attempted to endure this).

Tom Cruise achieves staggering new heights of embarrassment. His rabid expletive ridden tirades are not biting satire, they are just cringeworthy and forced.

Nolte is pointless and looks uncomfortable as if he has a horrible sinking feeling throughout. Matthew McConaughey, a great actor when he tries, gives his best shot. But given that his character is effectively one joke which isn't funny in the first place, he is on a hiding to nothing from the start.

Steve Cougan actually manages to be the best actor in all this hideous mess, and he is dispatched early on anyhow. I think he should be grateful as he is the only one to escape with a shred of dignity.

The stellar cast must be appalled at what Ben Stiller has created. Overblown, pointless, unfunny visual diarrhoea with no discernible redeeming qualities whatsoever. Surely Mr Stiller will never again be able to persuade such actors of note to take part in another debacle.
It saddens me that at no point in the pre-production process did someone have either the nerve or the knowledge to say "Hang on a minute Ben, this just simply isn't funny." Ben Stiller has committed the cardinal film making sin - a comedy that is not only devoid of any laughs, but actually so poor it is offensive to a viewer with any level of discernment.
Having just about managed to watch it (a supreme act of will in itself), I feel insulted and scammed out of my money. I turned to my wife and said, "That was possibly the worst film I have seen in a decade". She not only agreed, but used one of the overused expletives from the movie to describe her dissatisfaction at a wasted 1hr40min of her life.
If I could give it less than one star I would.