There is a comeback role in this movie, and he ain't in the posters either

Rating: 8/10 (17 August 2008)

A critic's life is fairly simple, honestly it is. You complain about something that everyone else likes, support your opinion with more opinions, be the louder individual, boast the fact that you have seen more movies, then call it a day. Repeat process for all eternity. Hollywood needs to be ridiculed right about now with all that is going on in terms of its business, politics, beliefs, and decisions, and this movie pushes all the right buttons, becoming a movie for the critics described in the first epic sentence. Nobody in Hollywood is safe as movies, celebrities, decisions, and all aspects of Hollywood are dissed, spoofed, and is the subject of all the smaller inside jokes that movie critics would understand while the general public would pass off as mere dialogue. Meshing in the smart-aleck anti-Hollywood humor is enough action, visual gags, and one-liners to entertain the wider audience. Tropic Thunder is hilarious, and the more you've seen from Hollywood, the funnier it shall be. This movie exposes nearly all the silly shenanigans of Hollywood.
The story in the movie is its biggest downfall whiles the entire cast, spillage of cameos, and visual jokes more than make up for the pratfall of a tale that is delivered. While some roles were not written well, the actor portraying him saves it from being a total meltdown. Whatever directing miscues by Stiller become apparent, the cast is right there with the next witty one-liner. It is a wild ride from start to finish.
A group of actors, the action star trying to regain fame (Ben Stiller), the Oscar hog (Robert Downey Jr. in an Oscar-worthy role), the prankster trying to break out of typecasting (Jack Black, underused), the rapper-turned-actor (Brandon T. Jackson) and the film buff (Jay Baruchel), are sent to a secluded part of Vietnam so they can save the filming of a true story. However, in a series of freak events, they are forced to become the soldiers they are becoming in the flick. The five of them have to team up to survive the onslaught of enemies, despite their differences in personalityand acting. Yes, the movie sounds a little bit like Three Amigos, except its grittier, nastier, more violent, and has more commentary undertones.
As previously stated, the acting is definitely what runs this movie. The main five characters (among others) throws so many lines at you, you won't be able to catch every single awesome quote ("It was a long flight" was missed by all). Robert Downey Jr. deserves at least an Oscar nod for his performance, he steals the show at almost any moment in which he speaks. Everyone else does a grand job (with Jack Black even doing decent despite having little material) but Downey Jr. and a certain cameo propel this movie from decent to surprisingly good. This is definitely the comeback movie for an actor, but its not one you'd expect.
Wall-E was a tough pill to swallow as it was slow, yet mystifying. Tropic Thunder on the other hand hurls so many little pills at you; you might not be able to take them all. The pacing was fast, at times way too fast; and then sometimes the movie slows down to almost a halt. Ben Stiller has the right idea, but a better director could have definitely improved the movie. This is a better effort than The Cable Guy, but Stiller needs a little more work. The pyrotechnics enhances the warfare aspects of the movie, and some of the make-up and special effects added to the absurd over-the-top humor that Ben Stiller is known to possess.
It may require a second viewing to catch all the jokes because there are layers upon layers of jokes patched throughout. Hollywood is insulted, so are war movies, so are many celebrities. Sometimes a scene is so entertaining the major joke(s) of the entire moment flies over your head (Pay close attention to the final shoot-out). Don't expect this movie to win any Oscars, as the Academy Awards are even made fun of in Tropic Thunder. There is a little bit of something for everybody, and this is definitely one of the best Stiller flicks he's even been caught up in. Stiller possesses the Sandler syndrome, in which the best movies of Sandler involve him not hogging all the attention but sharing it with the cast. Stiller has his moments, but so does everyone else.
Bottom Line: One of the funniest movies in a while has arrived here. With plenty of action, humor, and randomness possessed, Tropic Thunder is a high and mighty spoof with very little slowdown and very little unfunny scenes. Robert Downey Jr. yet again proves why he is one of the more underrated actors of the past couple of decades and Stiller proves that he can step out of his quick-buck comfortable humor and dip into something darker and much more vulgar. Expect silliness, expect cameos, expect left field humor, but also expect some smart jokes flung in there to throw you off. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the humorous carnage.