If it's not funny, make it louder

Rating: 4/10 (28 December 2008)

Tropic Thunder is a confused mess that left me greatly disappointed. First off, the intention of the writers is never clear as the film meanders quite a bit. Is this supposed to be a "Hollywood insider" movie, poking fun at the film industry, or is this a parody of Vietnam War films? The storyline goes back and forth, but never really commits to either concept. The combination of the two ideas doesn't work together at all.
There are some moments in this movie that are quite funny, but they're scarce. The funny stuff is drowned out by endlessly loud scenes of characters simply yelling obscenities and insults at each other. I suppose this is supposed to pass for comedic writing, but for me it just became annoying very quickly.
Ben Stiller, funny in many of his previous films (Zoolander, Meet the Parents, There's Something About Mary... to name a few) falls flat here. He doesn't know what to do with his vanilla character, a parody of a washed-up action movie star. Robert Downey Jr., an obviously white actor, is asked to play a black man, clearly poking fun at racism in the Hollywood casting process. The fact that many reviewers have interpreted his role as racist shows that the joke just didn't translate very well, despite a clever concept. Jack Black is purely along for the ride (and the paycheck) in this one. He's plays a slapstick movie star with a bad drug problem. That's about all there is to say regarding his poorly-written, poorly-developed, unfunny character. Tom Cruise offers a cameo appearance, which is unexpected and funny at first, but soon gets overly loud, obnoxious and repetitive (much like the film itself).
The concluding action sequence is way too long and unfunny. I realize the writers had intended to parody over-the-top action movie conclusions (imagine something from a Schwarzenegger film...). However, unintentionally, they created exactly what they were trying to mock. Too many explosions and tons of predictable "one liner" dialogue beat the viewer into submission.
I'm a fan of goofy, fun comedy, but somehow this one missed the mark for me. I wish I had re-watched Anchorman, Superbad or even Dumb and Dumber instead.