Stiller's Vietnam War action film spoof is as bad as the films it attempts to satirize

Rating: 2/10 (29 December 2010)

When Ben Stiller first approached Robert Downey Jr. about acting in 'Tropic Thunder', Downey was quoted as saying, "this is the stupidest idea I've ever heard." Stiller reportedly replied, "Yeah, I know—isn't it great?" Somehow, in Stiller's mind, 'stupid' is equated with 'funny'. Nonetheless, 'Tropic Thunder' was tremendously successful at the box office which I believe had little to do with the puerile script but more with the action sequences and special effects that appealed to the male teenage and young adult audience. I'm reluctant to concede that Stiller has any talent in the area of screen writing but as a director of action sequences, he probably can hold his own with most of the action sequence directors out there today.
'Tropic Thunder' begins with some mildly amusing takeoffs on movie trailers and commercials. Rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon Jackson) promotes his 'Booty Sweat' energy drink and Stiller as Tugg Speedman in Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown where each sequel seems the same as the other. Less successful is Jack Black's obnoxious 'The Fatties: Fart 2" which consists of Black playing each character in a fat suit and farting continuously. The final trailer, 'Satan's Alley', starring Downey's "Kirk Lazarus" and Tobey MacGuire feature two monks attempting to repress their sexual longings for one another. The takeoff is obviously designed to satirize such gay-themed movies as 'Brokeback Mountain'; it's a good way to start a comedy but things begin going downhill almost immediately after the opening sequence.
'Thunder' calls for a complete suspension of disbelief as to the plausibility of the plot. I wondered why Vietnam would ever allow an American film crew to film a movie written in the style of the jingoistic 'Green Berets'. That's where the film-within-a-film is initially being shot but the locale shifts to Laos (or possibly Myanmar) after the spineless Brit director Damien Cockburn is ordered by studio head Les Grossman to get his actors back in shape after the picture goes way beyond budget in the first week of filming. At the suggestion of the author the film is based on, Tayback (who is later unmasked as a fake Vietnam veteran), Cockburn sets up cameras in the jungle and is assisted by his pyrotechnics expert, Cody, to create explosions which are designed to bring verisimilitude to the film. The cast is ordered by their newly self-actualized director to take a trek through the jungle with a hastily patched-together script as their guide.
I realize that 'Thunder' is not to be taken seriously at all but how do the filmmakers actually capture the footage which is later turned into an Academy Award winning documentary at the film's end? They would have to have thousands upon thousands of cameras placed in every nook and cranny of the jungle to capture what the actors are doing. I assume they later used surveillance footage from the Dragons' own cameras when the cast were being held captive in the heroin dealers' lair. But even so, Tayback and Cockburn's idea to create the documentary is too ludicrous for even a silly film such as this.
There is little to gain by rehashing Thunder's amateurish plot. Suffice it to say it involves the kidnapping of Stiller's Speedman character along with Cody and Tayback (Nick Nolte) by a goofy Flaming Dragons gang. The rest of the cast must earn their mettle by saving their buddies from the gang, despite the fact that all their weapons are mere props. 'Thunder' is supposed to be a satire on action films but by the time Stiller and his gang win their brownie points, you can't tell if this is really a satire or simply a bad action picture.
Stiller's main problem is a lack of imagination. For example, he'll come up with the bit about Kirk Lazarus dying his skin black and refusing to break character until we almost reach the film's end. How much can we take of Downey doing his shtick ad infinitum? The same goes for Stiller's 'Simple Jack'. According to Stiller, 'Jack' is not making fun of mentally handicapped people per se but rather actors like Dustin Hoffman who portray a caricature of an idiot savant in 'Rainman'. Stiller doesn't seem to realize that the idiot 'Simple Jack', is a far cry from Hoffman's brainy eccentric. Some people might find a Goofy Gumby such as 'Simple Jack' to be funny but after about ten minutes, can't we move on to something else? 'Thunder' intentionally is designed to be in bad taste but occasionally the films' scenarists ruin the comic tone by going too far. One such moment is when they actually kill off the director Cockburn; another moment is when Speedman kills a lovable Panda.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that 'Tropic Thunder' is the worst film of 2008 but it comes close. The make-up department however does deserve an award for making Tom Cruise unrecognizable as a sleazy, Hollywood producer.