Why does Tom Cruise?

Rating: 4/10 (19 September 2008)

There's nothing in Tropic Thunder that you haven't seen Ben Stiller spoof before, and spoof better, in five minute clips such as Mission: Improbable or Die Hard 12: Die Hungry. His character of Tugg Speedman is yet another one of his many un-self-aware stereotypes like Derek Zoolander or White Goodman.
Besides this, what is most disappointing about Tropic Thunder is the fact that Stiller had all the pieces to make a truly great and sublime comedy, but he messed it up. Yes, I did laugh here and there but I'm afraid that most of the jokes miss the mark and the comic timing is a little bit off. The randomness of some scenes defy the internal logic and seem like they belong in a different film.
I was wishing for a sharp satire on modern Hollywood, but all we get are unironic bad-taste gags. The fake trailers in the opening are the best part. The cast are mostly wasted, and the motivations of their stupid actions seem to be lost on them, the actors they are playing and the roles those actors are playing. Get your head around that. I think that Stiller got a little muddled when writing the script. They never really kill anyone and we never know if they are firing blanks or not. And if they are, why don't they pick up some real guns when they have the chance?
It's better than Zoolander by a million miles, though it's really sad how a film this flat and uninspired blows the box office away while something like Last Action Hero, a very similar film which is a hundred times as good, ends up being a flop and laughed at whenever it's brought up in conversation.
Do yourself a favor, skip Tropic Thunder and spent the night inside with the DVD of Arnie's misunderstood 1993 epic.