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On paper Tropic Thunder could have so easily suffered a cinematic death similar to Ocean's Twelve. After all, director, writer and star Ben Stiller invited a bunch of his Hollywood buddies to hop aboard an inevitable comedic juggernaut and make fun of their privileged occupations. However, one only has to witness the opening segment of the film to realise Stiller's effort is far superior to Steven Soderbergh's second delve into the story of Danny Ocean and his cohorts. Spoof film trailers kick off proceedings and these four parodies, especially the monk skit featuring Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire illustrate the ostentatious nature of the central players and are worth the price of admission alone. Tropic Thunder is a film with a big budget, big stars, and a big concept, and it certainly delivers, even if the comedy is tinged with inevitable self-awareness from its all-embracing Hollywood pedigree.
Stiller, Downey Jr., Black and lesser known actors Brandon T. Jackson and Jay Baruchel are recruited together to play a platoon in a huge budget war film. Stiller's Tugg Speedman is a former action flick star yearning for artistic credibility in more serious dramatic roles. Downey Jr.'s Kirk Lazarus is a previous five-time Academy Award winner who takes Method acting to the extreme. The Australian's dedication to his craft is an exaggerated amplification of a Day-Lewis or a De Niro and he even controversially blacks up to portray one of the characters from Four Leaf Tayback's (Nick Nolte) false source material, never venturing from his character's psyche until he has completed the DVD commentary. If this all sounds very complicated, the narrative's structure makes things comprehensible - what is supposedly a comfy production on a gorgeous exotic island quickly turns into guerrilla filmmaking where the shoot annoys both the locals and the studio executives. Jack Black is seemingly present for an extra avenue of comic relief, Tom Cruise's domineering Les Grossman is yet another indirect attack at his critics for proving he is still in touch with this planet, and Owen Wilson's late substitute, Matthew McConaughey plays Rick Peck with a strong Jerry Maguire-esque feel in what is probably his greatest ever performance! Of the supporting players however, Danny R. McBride's pyrotechnics expert steals the show. Remember a time before Will Ferrell hit the big time when he would randomly pop up in Austin Powers or Boat Trip and undertake a skit to steal the show, leaving you to question who he was after the film? McBride has achieved similar reactions with his performances in only a handful of films.
Overall, aside from the messages Stiller and screenwriting chums Etan Cohen and Justin Theroux make clear about the greed of film studios and stars, and the contentious subjects of race and the mentally challenged (Stiller's faux film Simple Jack is highly touchy), Tropic Thunder is a film lacking the constant rib-tickling guffaws one would expect from such a talented cast. Other efforts from the Frat Pack or from Christopher Guest's troupe with less convoluted plots should remain the dish of the day for comedy fans - actual jokes instead of blowing stuff up will always remain the key ingredient.
The summary
A visually attractive parody of the absurdity of the Hollywood machine which just lacks the killer satirical jabs to push it to the next level of the spoof canon.
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