15 Years Too Late and a Lot of Laughs Too Little

Rating: 6/10 (15 August 2008)

I just saw Tropic Thunder. It wasn't bad, but it didn't live up to expectations. I can honestly say that I enjoyed Stiller's last directorial effort, Zoolander, much more than I did this flick. For me TT has two major flaws. Firstly, they couldn't decide whether they were filming a spoof or a satire--spoofs have jokes, satires have bitingly comic themes. Some of Stiller's jokes are goofy, laugh out loud surreal Zoolander-type stuff spoofing war movie clichés, but a lot of the movie is more like a social satire of the modern movie business, with characters behaving in non-joke ways to joke situations. And the two styles don't mix well in this movie. I think Still had way too much time to think about the screenplay over the years and was very, very interested in the story and characters, but couldn't resist sticking the cheap jokes in there as well--which take us as the audience out of the story and characters. Two styles in conflict. Secondly, the genre Stiller is using to spoof and as his springboard of satire, the Viet Nam War flick, is one that would have last been relevant to do a take on about 15 years ago. I mean, really--visual quotes from Platoon and Rambo? Those flicks aren't old enough for true iconic nostalgia and not current enough for most folks to really "get" the spoofing.
Anyway, it's an OK picture. Not much more. Maybe a really skilled director could have done more with it, but Stiller is still more of a performer than a director.