Tropic Thunder

Good movie!

Good movie!

Good movie!

iron

I have no clue where to begin with this review. This movie is one of the most off the wall movies I have seen in years, yet it does have a plot, and a lot of humor mixed in. Without spoiling things, the beginning is very creative, and nothing that you would expect. Once past that, we get into the crux of the movie. Speedman (Ben Stiller) and his crew are in Vietnam, working on a movie based on the book "Tropic Thunder" and the director and author of the book are on set the entire time. During one particular scene, Speedman is really fed up with his crew, and wants to do his own thing. So, the crew goes back to where they were dropped off, and Speedman does his own thing. Speedman gets captured by a group of people and the crew through getting lost eventually figure out, we are in a movie and have to follow the script they had to find Speedman. There are so many laughs in this movie, some of it was over the top, but some of it was almost crying laughing. Jack Black plays his usual comedic self, but Robert Downey Jr. does a great job with what his character is. Downey had a lot to deal with, and when you see the movie, you will know what I mean. Some of the music was placed where you wouldn't expect was funny too, some of it original, some of it songs you have heard before. I had not seen the trailer prior to this, which may be a good thing because I am not sure I would have laughed as much. I am very close to saying pay full price for this, but very little of the humor wasn't funny.

I couldn't believe the credits when it rolled. He is the man.

This is hands down Ben Stiller's best movie. It has great action, great dialogue, great acting, great music and great humor. This movie is filled with quotable lines and works very well. The performances I have to single out for praise are Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr, Jay Baruchel, Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Cruise. I feel like this movie approaches it's themes in a way similar to Blazing Saddles but Blazing Saddles has a lot more slapstick. The Tugg Speedman character is not as memorable as Derek Zoolander but this movie is far better than Zoolander is. This is my favorite Ben Stiller movie alongside Meet The Fockers, Zoolander, Starsky and Hutch, and Night At The Museum 1 and 3 but I still haven't seen There's Something About Mary. I honestly prefer Robert Downey Jr as Kirk Lazuras over him as Iron Man but they are both fantastic performances. Tom Cruise is awesome as Less Grossman. He owns his character that is very different from everything else he has done. I hope Ben Stiller is proud of this movie because to me this is his best one.

Surrounded in controversy about whether it's racist, Downey Jnr Blacking up, or offensive to the disabled, the over use of the word retard and much more let me say that really none of that matters because this film just isn't funny. It tries so hard to pastiche the Hollywood of now and films like Platoon and Apocalypse Now but fails miserably. The trouble is that despite filling it with stars, Black, Coogan, Stiller, Cruise, Nolte et al they forgot to fill it with jokes and any they did put in are puerile and akin to the level of a Farley Brothers gross out, which meant that I only laughed once and that was more of a stifled guffaw than a laugh out loud. Tom Cruise only seems to be in the film to swear and do a silly dance which considering he does that now on every show he goes on to promote anything just seems stale. The story if you can call it that is so loose it almost falls off, the saving grace is the music which is what you'd expect from a Vietnam movie all Rolling Stones and Buffalo Springfield. Ultimately this has all been done before better and after a great opening few minutes it goes rapidly down hill and never recovers making this a sorry example of a comedy film and a waste of good actors. But it seems I am in the minority so really don't take my word for it suffer it for yourself.

This is one of those movies that you will be quoting for the rest of your life with your friends! Tropic Thunder is a great satire that I was honestly expecting to be terrible. The story was actually perfect to make fun of action movies and Hollywood. The situational comedy was genius as these actors were forced to actually survive a war like setting. The action scenes themselves resembled really action movies and were nicely done. They added the action in with the hilarity, and all of it worked perfectly. There were two characters that really stand out. Robert Downey Jr and Tom Cruise were both comedic gold! You won't recognize either of them, but they fit the roles fantastically. Some people find Downey's character to be inappropriate, but please take it for what it is supposed to be. Downey Jr was making fun of method acting and taking that concept to a completely new level with this role. I didn't realize Tom Cruise was in this until the credits. He is in a role that I never thought I would see him in. He is outrageous and over the top. His scenes are some of the most memorable from the movie. I don't want to give too much away since I don't want to spoil any of the comedic gold. Just know that you will be kept laughing the entire time, and the movie will just keep getting better. This is a great watch and definitely worth your time; 8/10.

I saw this movie in theaters and fell in love with it. I've seen it many times throughout the years and have noticed most people either don't know or don't care for this film. After rewatching it yesterday, I just had to write about it. The casting was incredible in my opinion. People think of Ocean's Eleven or The Departed as movies with dream casts. I think Tropic Thunder holds its own. Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey are solid minor/supporting characters. I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise, but I find myself quoting all of his Les Grossman lines consistently. Nick Nolte, Steve Coogan, Bill Hader and Danny McBride are great additions. Jay Baruchel is his usual self, Brandon T Jackson was a solid part of the mix and the three main leads really deliver. Special mention to RDJ, by far my favorite performance. It's ridiculous how many layers there are to his character. At some point he's an Australian actor playing a Black guy playing an Asian farmer. Almost every single scene has a quotable line. The action is very well done and the story's so wonderfully over the top. I think the biggest win is how well it has aged in my opinion. Movies like The Hangover were really funny when they came out, but I find there's no replay value. The jokes don't work well the second time around. The same goes for something like Deadpool. On the other hand, films like Borat, Anchorman and Tropic Thunder still make me laugh regardless of how many times I've seen it. I wish Ben Stiller would go back to doing stuff like this. A Les Grossman sequel would've been absolutely incredible!