Sometimes Flatulence and Violence Are Not Enough

Rating: 1/10 (14 August 2008)

This movie is the worst possible Hollywood slime. It's supposed to be some kind of satire and is full of movie business in-jokes. But the punch-lines are delivered as farts or extreme violence. When I saw it, the sixteen-year-old boys in the audience were the only ones who ever laughed. In real life, machine guns and flame throwers result in extreme pain and mutilated bodies, as they did in Viet Nam. In the movie, nothing much happens.
What's most sickening about all of this is the talent and intelligence of many of the people involved. Some of the acting, especially by Tom Cruise, is quite good. That this despicable film would get good reviews (in the San Francisco Chronicle, the locally famous "little man" is jumping from his seat) not only shows the dark side of Hollywood but says something about what's wrong with America. The "retard" comments that disability support groups object to are only the tip of the iceberg. Tropic Thunder's basic totalitarian nihilism is what's most hateful.