practically everything about this movie is uproarious; the satire/parody of the year!

Rating: 10/10 (17 August 2008)

I read a review of Tropic Thunder that said it's satire, not parody, that there's a distinct difference and the film knows it. I'd agree that there is a difference, but I'd add that Stiller doesn't give a great big hoot about sticking to one or the other. Tropic Thunder does satirize its subjects: movie stars, movie moguls, "dedictation" to the craft of acting, the crap that churns out in Hollywood, and the Vietnam war. But there's parody running throughout the picture, if only in the first half of the picture and particularly in those incredible trailers that open the movie (all of them are fall-down laughing, and even give certain laughs for certain movie fans). It's one of the most deft mixes of parody and satire, where they sometimes run along with one another through the jungle and full of blood and guts and awesome one-liners. To give a higher compliment- it's some of the best since Mel Brooks.
It's simple to break down the premise, since it's right in the trailer: primadonna movie stars- one action, Tugg Speedman, aka 'Tuggernuts' (Stiller); one comedy, Jeff Portnoy (Black); one the "acclaimed" method actor Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr)- are starring in a Vietnam war movie that is going haywire, and so the director (Coogan) gets tips from the military adviser/author of the book Tropic Thunder (Nolte) to send the stars out into the *real* jungle to film the movie. Then, of course, everything goes to hell, right even before they leave the drop point of where the helicopter drops them off (wont spoil it, but there's a great gag involving a severed head for a few minutes). Stiller goes close to overload as the movie goes on- mocking the brash studio executive (Tom Cruise- yes, Tom Cruise, and he's BALD!) and Speedman's puppy-dog agent (McConaughey), and the fact that the drug cartel who captures Speedman in the jungle are a HUGE fans of Stiller's "retard" movie, Simple Jack.
I might add, don't think because I put "retard" in quotes that it's offensive. Stiller's aim here is to completely annihilate ALL of the self-indulgent and self-righteous movies, so there are no prisoners taken in the course of Tropic Thunder. This scores it extra points, but above all else it's the fact that it's Ben Stiller as a "retard" (and at one point performing the entire movie at gun point to the cartel workers), Robert Downey Jr is a "dude playing a dude disguised as another dude", and Black as a, uh, heroin addicted star of stupid fart comedies (which, oddly enough, is to Black's credit that he pulls off a role I didn't think would work). It has that same overt and palpable ludicrous vibe of Zoolander, only even more focused on character and sharper at telling the story. For all the insanity and just continuous "did he just SAY or DO that" antics in Tropic Thunder, sometimes involving lots of violence or gobs of racism, Stiller doesn't forget to direct, and in fact it's maybe his best directing job yet. Pineapple Express might have gone to more extremes but, frankly, this is funnier.
How funny may depend on how much you can take of each characters' "shtick". Frankly, I couldn't get enough, and loved just the surprise cameos and bit parts (Tobey Maguire is one real notable) that revealed how in tune they were with the rest of the project. Only in recent memory is Walk Hard comparable in going so far to deliver joke after joke that just connects either due to great dialog ("I'm the rooster illusion"), great rapport between the actors, some of which are just the drug dealers at the prison camp like the kid Brandon Soo-Hoo, and a finite ability to tap into how shallow and amazing movies can get. Did I mention Tom Cruise is in it?