The first 20 minutes of Tropic
Thunder represent some of the funniest to grace American
silver-screens in the last five years. For this short amount of
time, the movie does exactly what a great modern comedy should:
provide non-stop laughs, smart references, and a relatable
context. Introducing us to its focal three characters—actors
Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), and Kirk
Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.)—Tropic Thunder nails today’s
film-industry on the nose. The trio is a hot item in Hollywood:
Speedman is a popular action-star who occasionally sees a flair
for the dramatic (he makes a Patch Adams-like turn when
he goofily plays a mentally-challenged farmer in the movie
Simple Jack), Portnoy is a closet heroin-addict whose
comedies are hugely successful, and Lazarus is a committed (so
much so that he decides to become medically African-American for
his latest role) method-actor who stars in controversial indie
projects. All together, the characters encompass everything that
is ridiculous about big-budget American moviemaking and, at the
same time, everything that is glorious about the art: they’re
all a bit loopy, but they’re kinda brilliant from a
marketing-perspective.
The opening
scenes of Tropic Thunder work because they merely dwell
on the carefully-observed, nuance-filled traits of the
characters. The movie opens to a dynamite showcase of this
process: three trailers that provide examples of each of the
actors’ work. I would not dare reveal the contents of these or
the titles of the movies they represent, but will say that they
feel almost eerily authentic in the ways that they rip on recent
Hollywood projects. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Eddie Murphy make
for amusing, if obvious targets in Speedman and Portnoy’s clips.
The Lazarus trailer is the best of the bunch, however, taking
more than a few jabs at Brokeback Mountain and featuring
a cameo from a certain metrosexual superhero-playing star.
The laughs
and pointed-observations don’t stop coming when the trailers
end. The audience’s attention is quickly directed to a
humorously-staged, big-budget, Apocalypse Now-style
Vietnam War film that the actors are shooting in the remote
jungles of Southeast Asia. The project is running out of money
quickly and isn’t looking up in terms of quality, either, as
evidenced by the director’s (Steve Coogan) eagerness to get his
cast to settle for mediocre takes. This involves a particularly
hilarious bit in which Speedman is shot repeatedly, somehow
surviving as blood flees his system, only to share an emotional
moment with Lazarus’ double-talking black soldier.
The studio
and the filmmakers soon reach a point of financial and creative
gridlock, however, and the project looks like it may go under.
To save the movie, the cast and crew follow the advice of ex-POW
screenwriter Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte) by deciding to shoot
the entire thing “guerilla-style” on handheld cameras with only
the real pyrotechnics they have been afforded. What they don’t
realize, however, is that there are real
resistance-fighters/drug-lords occupying the jungles where they
decide to film and, because they are dressed as American
soldiers and carry fake weapons, they will instantly become
targets for actual warfare. (Only complicating matters further
is the fact that the group assumes its newfound opponents to be
studio-plants designed enhance the authenticity of its ensuing
theatrics.)
Despite the
inspired plot-making displayed by the
movie-within-a-movie-within-a-movie structure developed,
Tropic Thunder becomes wildly hit-and-miss as soon as the
actors and the drug-lords become involved in full-scale battle.
Instead of continuing to focus on the personalities of its
characters, the film largely morphs into the very inept action
picture it thinks it’s spoofing. Yes, there is some inspired
acting on display (particularly on the part of Downey Jr.), but
the script becomes largely unfunny. Comic details are ignored in
favor of loud action sequences, the most inept of which being
the movie’s finale, in which the unscathed portion of the
movie’s cast must rescue that which has been imprisoned by the
drug-lords. Tropic Thunder also reduces itself to
implementing crude humor at moments in order to fill space, too,
with plenty of lewd instances like one in which Portnoy
frantically describes a sexual act he would perform in order to
score much-needed heroin that the isolated jungle has deprived
him of.
Yes,
Tropic Thunder’s final two acts are not without their
merits, but these come few and far between. Most are tied to
three reoccurring situations: the drug-lords’ unexpected glee
when they discover Speedman to be their POW given that the
otherwise-critically-lambasted Simple Jack is the only
VHS-tape they own, the crazed antics of studio-exec Len Grossman
(a wonderfully self-deprecating Tom Cruise), and the desperately
misunderstanding attempts of agent Rick Peck (Matthew
McConaughey) to remain employed for Tugg. For at least the last
hour of Tropic Thunder’s 107 minutes (if not the last
hour and a half), the movie is nowhere near as consistent as it
is during its opening passages. As bullets fly, drug-fields
explode, and action-movie clichés are explored in overwhelming
abundance, viewers will find themselves longing for the
greatness that the film was able to capture for a short period
of time. Yes, Tropic Thunder is an amusing effort that
ultimately proves worth seeing, but it’s a somewhat disquieting
exercise to think about how much better it could’ve been.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 8.12.2008
Screened on: 7.23.2008 at the UA
Horton Plaza 14 in San Diego, CA.
