Oh, the hilarity!

Rating: 9/10 (1 July 2009)

This movie is outrageous. And a touch absurd. OK maybe more than just a touch absurd. Turns out there can be great fun in absurdity because this movie is utterly hilarious. Writer/director/star Ben Stiller has crafted a film which is dead-on perfect in its skewering of the Hollywood industry. Imagine that, Hollywood producing a big-budget motion picture which points out the absurdity of the Hollywood culture which produces big-budget motion pictures. Well played Mr. Stiller. Well played indeed.
Tropic Thunder is a laugh riot right from its very beginning. Actually the laughs start before the film itself properly begins with a series of fake trailers which introduce us to our four main characters, the actors who will set out to make the greatest war movie ever. There's Brandon T. Jackson playing rapper Alpa Chino who sees his role in the film as an opportunity to promote his energy drink more than anything else. Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, a Stallone kind of action hero attempting to save his career after a foray into serious acting went less than well. Jack Black plays Jeff Portnoy who specializes in flatulence humor and who has a nasty heroin habit. And then there is Robert Downey Jr. who ultimately steals the show with his portrayal of Australian Oscar-winning method actor Kirk Lazarus. Lazarus is white. The character he has signed on to portray is black. So Lazarus has undergone pigmentation alteration to make himself black. Yes that is as stupid as it sounds. And the ultimate effect is funny as can be.
Anyhow the filming of the greatest war movie ever does not go according to plan and the director decides to film guerrilla-style in the jungle. Unfortunately that plan gets blown to bits. Hilarity ensues as our actors wander through the jungle and find themselves in the middle of a conflict that's all too real. The plot really is absurd but it works perfectly. So many funny moments, so many memorable lines, so many great performances. Downey shines as the white man playing the black man, Lazarus seemingly having convinced himself he really is black. His back and forth with Jackson's Alpa Chino, a real black man, is priceless. Stiller is very good as well. Black's character comes off as a bit of an afterthought but he's OK with what he's given to work with. And so many other familiar faces pop up as well. Most memorably there's "that guy" playing studio executive Les Grossman. Oh dear Lord is he funny. All in all Tropic Thunder is a brilliantly conceived and brilliantly executed comic treat. You will see few movies which are any funnier.