Above your average ridiculously stupid comedy

Rating: 7/10 (18 October 2008)

A question of comparison almost as common as "Pepsi or Coca Cola?" that often arises asks to choose the favourite between Adam Sandler or Ben Stiller. Both have very different comedic styles that cater to different kinds of audiences: Sandler is more exaggerated and crude, while Stiller seems to be more sophisticated and gravitates more towards parody than grossing out, although in my opinion he is the less funny of the two. So while Zoolander was a very clever send-up of the male fashion world, it just wasn't that funny besides the uncanny number of celebrity cameos. Luckily for Stiller, in his most recent directorial effort, Tropic Thunder, which parodies every possible aspect and angle of Hollywood Â– actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, agents, genres, award shows, trailers, and everything in between Â– he brings along a crew of hilarious comic talents to help him deliver the laughs.
The film is, first and foremost, a rather clever parody of everything Hollywood, featuring washed-up action stars, prestigious Oscar-winning Australian method actors, overweight, drug-addicted comedic actors who appear in multiple roles in crude humour movies, rappers making the transition into film, actors who play mentally disabled characters for awards attention, crazed producers, British theatre directors making their film debuts, novelists who are exposed as frauds, crazed agents, and many more. The film-within-a-film, the Vietnam war epic Tropic Thunder, which appears prominently in the first few scenes of the film, is also a clever and more subtle prod at war epics, featuring over-the-top gore, exaggerated pyrotechnics and every clichÃ© in the book. These elements are no doubt the contribution of Justin Theroux to the screenplay. Theroux hasn't actually written any screenplays before, but as an actor he often plays these kind of slyly, subtly comic characters, and it seems to fit his style. Then again, the film also contains a scene in which a character wrestles with a panda bear, eventually kills it and wears its skin, so the movie's styles and levels of humour are evidently varied.
Most of the flat-out jokes in the film aren't quite as funny as they could be, but the film benefits from an exquisite collective of comic genius at its core. Stiller himself, although playing the main character, plays him as the straightest arrow in the group and in the least exaggerated manner, and thus puts himself really aside the comic limelight and lets his co-stars take centre stage. Each one has his shining moment, including Jay Baruchel and Nick Nolte, and Jack Black in particular has two or three scenes that he just lets loose and gives it his all. But there's no doubt about it that this is Robert Downey, Jr.'s show.
Downey, Jr. has, in the last couple of years of his comeback, shown superb acting virtuosity in both comedic (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, A Scanner Darkly) and dramatic (Fur, Zodiac) roles in small indie films, but 2008 will certainly go down in history as the defining year for him, the year where at long last the talented but troubled actor has hit A-list status and has become a bona-fide movie star, bringing in the crowd. Showcasing lighter fare in Iron Man and comic genius in Tropic Thunder, one can only wonder how he will fare dramatically in Joe Wright's The Soloist, out later this year. I have my fingers crossed for Downey, especially since he absolutely carried Tropic Thunder and delivered the funniest lead performance in a very bold feat of portraying a black man that worked off perfectly.
But with all due respect to Downey, Jr., even he is out-acted by the extended cameo role that totally steals the show. It took me quoting lines from Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia to my friends for them to realize that the actor portraying the hairy, bald, overweight film producer Les Grossman is none other than Tom Cruise. Off-screen persona aside, there's no denying Cruise's abilities in this movie. He is still one of the most talented, screen presence-commanding actors working today, and his show-stealing, profanity-laden performance in Tropic Thunder just further proves his ability at carrying a movie and stealing the show, even when he's only in it for a few scenes. Downey, Jr. carried the film, but Cruise was the highlight of the experience for me.
There's no tiptoeing around the fact that Tropic Thunder is a ridiculously stupid movie. But the fact that it's so over-the-top shows that, naturally, it doesn't take itself seriously. Combining clever lampooning of everything that signifies modern Hollywood with brilliant, all-cylinders-pumping comedic performances from the likes of Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder places itself above your average ridiculously stupid comedy.