Waste of potential

Rating: 3/10 (3 January 2009)

I was pretty disappointed in Tropic Thunder... it was absolutely not what I was expecting. I thought the premise was very good, with the idea of egotistical modern movie stars thrown into an environment where they would have to fend for themselves, but the execution did not work at all. I got the satire and what the film was trying to parody, but it rarely elicited even a chuckle. Dialog sequences were overlong and had no real point to them, especially for viewers not totally immersed in modern pop culture. A shame really, because there was potential. Robert Downey Jr stole the film as a white actor portraying a black actor. Fantastic acting, but not used to the advantage of the film. Jack Black, whose manic energy I usually love, was totally wasted on this film. Tom Cruise impressed me with his cameo performance, but the joke of the overly crude producer was stretched out to unfunny lengths.
I only give it 3 stars for the excellent trailer spoofs at the beginning. They were the best part of the movie!