Tropic Thunder

When I saw the R-rated trailer for this movie, I knew I had to see it. A story about self-centered Hollywood actors ending up fighting in a real war, why this hasn't been done since "The Three Amigos"!

Like The Three Amigos, Tropic Thunder centers around three clueless movie actors: Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), an action movie star trying to transition from brainless popcorn movies to a serious actor with limited success; Jeff Pornoy (Jack Black), a fat suit/fart comedy actor, who is also a drug addict; and Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), an Australian method-actor who is so dedicated to his role and so in-character he has his skin pigmented to play an African American soldier. I'd like to talk a little about each actor and his character.

In general, I like Ben Stiller. I especially like him when he plays clueless and self-centered characters, like Dereck Zoolander and Mr. Furious from "Mystery Men", as opposed to uptight romantic leads like in "Meet the Parents" or "Something About Mary". His role as Tugg Speedman is like Dereck Zoolander on steroids, but with a little more smarts, and the same literal interpretation of the world around him.

Jack Black, who I love in almost everything he's in (I know people are really annoyed by him, but I love JB) plays Jeff Pornoy as a cross between Eddie Murphy and Chris Farley. There's also a funny homage to Robert Downey Jr. in this character, because Pornoy's drug use and instability make him quite an expensive insurance risk for most movie productions. I've always liked Jack Black's "assholiness", but it was refreshing that he was actually a little subdued in this roll. He was still very funny and stayed in character.

Robert Downey Jr. ... my God, what a performance! A white actor playing a black guy could have really been taken the wrong way (like "Birth of a Nation" bad), but only a genius like RDJ could pull this off with such finesse and humor. Yes, he plays the character as a stereotype, but it just works. His scenes with Alpa Chino (played by Brandon T. Jackson), a real black guy are perfect in their irony.

What's not so good? The movie runs a little slow, and there are quite a few plot holes. But the laughs come so frequently, it's easy to forget the mistakes.

This movie is comedic fried gold. I think of Ben Stiller as a "90s" comedian, and I can't help also thinking of another 90s star, Mike Myers', abortion of a film, "The Love Guru". Mike, pay attention to what Ben has done here. Stop recycling the same stale jokes. Do something edgy and new.

Oh, and I can't write a review of Tropic Thunder without mentioning Tom Cruise, and his fantastic role as Les Grosmsman. I need a Les Grossman sound board! I need it now! Or at least a Les Grossman ringtone. Fantastic. What's also fun about Tom Cruise being in this, and I'm dating myself here, is that Ben Stiller used to do a not-so-flattering Tom Cruise impression on his old "Ben Stiller Show" on MTV. It's nice seeing that apparently Tom Cruise can laugh at himself. Makes me kinda rethink whole Scientology thing. err, not really.

I thought it was funny for the most part, although it did drag out in the end a bit. Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. did a great job, their roles were very comical.

It took me a while to realize that it was Tom Cruise playing the fat balding executive, and he was absolutely hilarious.

All in all, it was a funny movie, and better than the majority of movies I've seen this summer, and it's worth seeing if you have nothing to do, but I would suggest waiting until it comes out on DVD.

I liked it, and it was almost worth the money to see on the big screen, thanks in part to the explosions and the scenery. What I was most suprized about was that I wasn't annoyed with any of the actors this time. Usually there's something in each of them that bugs the everliving crap out of me (Save for Downey), even jack Black was really good. And that in and of itself is saying a lot.

The real jewel of this movie is Tom Cruise. I personally think I got the most out of that when I figured out that it was him, the makup he was in was really amazing. It shows a lot of maturity on his part that he can play a role like he did, I htink that was worth a star in and of itself. The Flow was a little bit rushed, but just in the right spot, and it seemed liek it was to catch you off guard, but I don't think the writers intended it so. The rest of the movie wasn't that thought out.

It's not a real gut buster like "Something About Mary" but it's definately better than the rest of Ben Stiller's Crap Laden Career.

There are many things for people to be offended by from this movie but I believe that was the intention.

The retard role did get annoying after the second time and I have heard that people got very offended by the retard jokes. I have not heard anyone getting offended by Robert Downey Jr. in Blackface, but I bet there are some people out there.

all in all this movie was very funny with a great cast and tons of funny moments that kept me laughing throughout the whole movie. It's a comedy so please don't take is seriously and get offended that will ruin the movie for you.

Even Tom Cruise did a good job at channeling his crazy for the role he played in this movie!

definitely a movie to see but not necessary to see in the theaters.

oh and probably not a good movie for the kids...

Ok,ok. Other then the retard thing, which could be argued is in comedic bad taste, it was one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time.

Oh my gosh. I'm still laughing from it.

There were so many great characters and all of them funny. Robert Downey Jr. is classic.

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting much from this movie. Mainly I wanted to see Robert Downey Jr. in blackface, and whether or not they could explain it thoroughly enough in the plot for it to not be totally offensive. Well, they did pretty well on that score.

However, they kept bringing back Ben Stiller in his (fictional) role as a retard, from a previous (fictional) movie his character had played. All that kind of wore thin after about the second instance, but they just kept at it.

Despite this, I did find myself laughing throughout the movie, so it wasn't a total loss. All in all, I'd say it's a good rental. But as the final Summer Blockbuster Movie (tm) of 2008, I was a little disappointed. The season seems to have gone out with an "eeeeeh."