So absurd and clever you can't help but laugh at it

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2009)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Mega stars from the world of action, Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), comedy, Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) and serious drama Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) have come together to make Tropic Thunder, a big budget action picture set in the jungles of South East Asia. Unfortunately, the director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is having a terrible time of making it, and Les Grossman (Tom Cruise), the studio head financing it, orders him to take his three stars on a tour around the volatile area without the cameras and crew following them around so they get a feel for the real danger they need to portray. However, after Cockburn's unfortunate death, the team realize this may not be as safe a learning experience as they thought.
I've never been a massive fan of Ben Stiller, but Tropic Thunder is probably his best film since Meet the Parents. Not that that's any great shakes, as even that was only awarded ***, but in terms of Stiller and his brand of comedy, this is another big hit (as opposed to something like, say, Zoolander which flew right over me.)
This is a film obsessed with being clever and taking the p!ss. From the trailers at the beginning, sending up big budget, no brainer action films, the low brow humour of American comedies, and Robert Downey Jr, who appears to be sending up Russell Crowe, Mr. T from The A Team and, er, himself. Quite how Stiller managed to get all these big name stars involved (many of which in roles they'd never normally do) for something that, while funny is hardly the most hilarious idea ever, is anyone's guess, but do it he has. The sheer absurdity of it all is what generates most of the laughs, from Stiller's mentally impaired farmboy act that amuses those who come to be his captors, Black's obnoxious fatty with a secret drug problem and, of course, Cruise's bumpin' and grindin' studio exec. The break-through role though, is that of child star Brandon Soo Hoo, as a high pitched, angry, kung fu kicking child commander of the Asian army. The film's problems, though, are a disjointed plot and being at least ten minutes too long, but with all those egos wanting to hog all that screen time, a lot more probably ended up on the cutting room floor.
Tropic Thunder is not the greatest comedy ever. It's not even really good. But it's an undeniably clever send up of Hollywood and famous actors that gets by on how absurd it all is as well. ***