Tropic Thunder

What makes Tropic Thunder such a darn fun movie is the actors in it that you wouldn’t expect to be in such a film at all. From the opening scene, there is absolutely no shred of doubt that the movie is unashamedly goofy – when actor/director Ben Stiller gets shot something like forty times in a clear spoof of Willem Dafoe’s death scene from Platoon. The humor is over-the-top from nearly the get-go, so it’s not surprise that actors like Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Bill Hader star in Tropic Thunder. The surprise is actors like Robert Downey, Jr., Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, and…and…well…I can’t really tell you, because his role is technically a cameo (though he plays a huge part in the movie, and is easily the best part of the entire film – God knows I didn’t see it coming). These are actors you don’t typically find in comedies, and the ones that elevate the movie from being a run-of-the-mill goofy comedy to an absolutely hilarious movie. I am reminded of Bruce Willis’ role in Death Becomes Her. Did you honestly expect to see him in that type of role? No. But it’s so perfect when you look back on it. Same idea here.

The movie is about the making of a war movie based on the fictional non-fiction book “Tropic Thunder” by Four Leaf Tayback (Nolte), a veteran of the Vietnam War who supervises everything that occurs on set. The director of the film is having severe problems dealing with the inflated egos of the stars. Tugg Speedman (Stiller) is a has-been action star. Jeff Portnoy (Black) is a successful bathroom humor actor. Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) is a rapper-turned-actor, but the best actor (both in the film and in the business of cinema in the real world) is Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus (Downy, Jr.), who has undergone an experimental pigment-changing surgery so as to look like a black man (he always stays in character – sometimes you have to convince yourself he’s actually a white guy, because he’s so damn convincing). The only humble actor seems to be Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), who seems to get forgotten in the big names. Without any chemistry on the set to speak of, the director and Four Leaf devise a plan to send the cast into the Vietnamese jungle over enemy lines to make a “real movie.” Of course, something goes terribly wrong, and the next thing you know, the troop is getting attacked by drug lords all while Portnoy is diving at bats due to his cocaine withdrawal, and Chino is getting upset at the act Lazarus keeps putting on, being a true African American.

Without the serious actors in the film, this would be, in all honesty, downright stupid. Throughout the movie, the humor is over the top, almost campy at times. We’ve come to expect this from Stiller and Black, though as of late both have been broadening their horizons to some degree. Still, it’s up their alley for humor. We do NOT expect this from an actor that possesses the caliber of Robert Downey, Jr. He completely steals the show. His fake accent is absolutely convincing, his mannerisms so out of the ordinary throughout the entire film, it is ridiculously difficult to remind yourself that it is indeed Robert Downey, Jr. I don’t say this as a hyperbole: Downey is, or at least should be, a perfectly legit contender for a best actor award at the Oscars. Nolte has less screen time, and plays more of a Nolte-ish character, but it’s still a goofy comedy. I wish I could tell you more about the biggest surprise of the film, how great of a job he does, and how hilarious it is to see him dance to rap, but I feel like I’d be tearing something special out of your life.

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