Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder is rated R for ‘pervasive’ language among other things. I never heard the word ‘pervasive’ used in a rating before. I thought it meant ‘a lot’ but checking out the thesaurus that comes with Microsoft Word, the following synonyms came up: ‘invasive’, ‘persistent’ and ‘all-encompassing’. Even those words are understatements when it comes to describing the content of Tropic Thunder. Although is would have been fun to read ‘Rated R for unrelenting, all-encompassing course language.’ There were more F-bombs than actual bombs in this war-action-comedy. And I would have really liked the film if I didn’t have to cringe at the rat-a-tat obscenity that filled each and every scene.

The premise of Tropic Thunder is what brought me to the theatre. Prima-donna actors think they’re being filmed when in reality they are in a dangerous predicament. There are loads of inside jokes and references, most are more overt than an average episode of Entourage, but still. Because Hollywood is under the microscope a lot more these days, Tropic Thunder is much more accessible than something like The Player. Matthew McConaughey does a great job of playing Stiller’s agent, Rick Peck, which is a lot harder since most agents are now compared to Jeremy Piven’s Ari Gold from Entourage. The industry is held up to scrutiny but so are individual actors. Jack Black’s Fatties franchise is an easy mockery of Eddie Murphy and the Klumps from the Nutty Professor films. In one scene where Ben Stiller takes off a wig, removes some false teeth and begins to remove make-up is a perfect send-up of fellow star, Robert Downey’s Jr’s opening moments from his Oscar-nominated turn in Chaplin. Funny stuff. Also there are some fun parodies of war films like Platoon and Saving Private Ryan to name a few.

Another reason I went to see Tropic Thunder was to see Tom Cruise as a balding, obese studio executive. I expected a one-minute cameo, but he’s in a bunch of scenes. And the mouth on that guy! The language warning mostly applies to Cruise’s Les Grossman character who puts Magnolia’s Frank Mackey obscene-strewn mouth to shame. This over-the-top, hip-hop dancing, abusive character only works because it’s Tom Cruise playing him and no imagines him to act this way. What’s funny is that most people just see Cruise as an actor but he is currently an actual studio head who is running United Artists. Cruise does have some fun scenes but the language does get to you pretty quick.

Robert Downey Jr is having a great year. After his stellar work in Iron Man, he has a lot of fun as Kirk Lazarus, a white Award winner playing a black dude who stays in character ‘until he finishes the DVD commentary.’ Downey is almost unrecognizable and while being stereotypical still manages to be semi-authentic. Maybe it’s his lips. Ben Stiller and Jack Black on the other hand are boring. Stiller is in Zoolander/White Goodman mode as Tugg Speedman, the insecure action star. Been there, done that. Jack Black isn’t given much to work with. He has two or three funny lines but he’s just too slapsticky as the drug-addicted Jeff Portnoy. Brandon T Jackson plays it pretty one-note as rapper/actor Alpa Chino, but does get the product placement scenes. Actually, I enjoyed watching Jay Baruchel (Undeclared, Knocked Up) as Kevin, the only actor who actually went through the boot camp training. The cast works together well but I didn’t find myself caring about any one of them in particular. It doesn’t help that the Vietnam ‘bad guys’ are undefined and ruled by a ten year-old who loves dumb movies.

Speaking of dumb movies, most people are going to have a problem with the depiction of the mentally challenged in Tugg’s cringe-inducing Simple Jack. The fake movie is pretty awful but Downey’s character brings up a great point about how the mentally challenged are portrayed in film. I wished they had left it at that rather than making Stiller’s character act out scenes from the movie. It’s too bad because Tropic Thunder does such a good job of making faux films. The opening trailers are fantastic and remind me a little of the Grindhouse promos. They even went so far as to pick the proper studio that would release their fake films. I loved Kirk Lazarus’ arthouse flick. The voice-over. The kudos. The editing. Awesome.

I would say that the premise and Downey’s performance makes Tropic Thunder worthwhile, but more in a rental sort-of-way. Sure, there are some big budget explosions but they’ll be just as impressive on the small screen. If you are interested in seeing this film, make sure you don’t wait until it’s on network TV, cuz I don’t know what they’ll do with all the language. That’s a lot of bleeps. And just bear in mind, when I start noticing the language, it’s pretty bad. But if you want to learn some ‘colourful’ language, be my guest.