Reviewed
by Lamar Kukuk
8/29/08
Historically,
no commercially unpopular movie genre is better represented than the Hollywood
Satire. It's easy enough to see why: I loved Office Space
because I work in an office, Free Enterprise because I'm a sci-fi
geek and Lucky Numbers because I live in Central Pennsylvania, so
why wouldn't Hollywood executives have a warped sense of the commercial
viability of movies about their own lives? But the funny thing about
the traditional Hollywood satire isn't that they're insular, although they
often are, but that they're so jam-packed with self-loathing. What
makes Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller's fences-swinging action comedy,
different is that while it's all-in on the vanity and insecurity of movie
stars, the business's insensitivity to the disabled and minorities and
the bottom-line evil of corporate moguls, it does so while providing larger
insight on those characters and their world. Better yet, it's an
utterly hilarious, kick-ass summer movie at the same time. It doesn't
all work (it would be just about impossible for a movie this far out on
a ledge to all work), but when it does, it's as smart as it is raucous.
And it's pretty raucous.
Production
is underway on Tropic Thunder, a blockbuster Hollywood filming of
the famous Vietnam memoir of Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), a Colonel
Kurtz-like figure who looms in the background of the chaotic set.
The eclectic cast is led by two popcorn movie stars trying to change their
images: Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), the action hero of a half-dozen
Scorcher sequels and comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), famous
for dressing up in fat suits and farting (The Fatties: Fart 2
is the most horrifyingly perfect fake movie title in years). They're
joined by The Greatest Actor in the World, 5-time Oscar-winning Australian
Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.), so committed to his role as an African-American
that he's had his skin dyed to play it and NEVER comes out of character.
Also on hand, rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), adding acting to
his corporate empire. Under the guidance of first-time director Damien
Cockburn (Steve Coogan), the shoot is a disaster, and studio mogul Les
Grossman (Tom Cruise) is fighting mad. To try and save the production,
Cockburn takes Tayback's crazy advice and airlifts his four stars, along
with sane newcomer Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), to the middle of the
jungle, which he's rigged with cameras hoping to shoot the movie guerrilla-style.
But things go horribly, horribly wrong, leaving the actors stranded and
lost in the jungle, where an elementary school-aged drug lord (Brandon
Soo Hoo) abducts Speedman and forces him to re-enact scenes from his touching
Oscar-grab as the mentally challenged Simple Jack. Can even his hard-working
agent Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey) get him out of this mess?
Tropic
Thunder is working on a lot of different levels simultaneously, but
the one that most people will care about is that it's riotously funny as
it runs its' all-star cast of bizarre characters through their paces.
The humor's not for the squeamish: one character is blown into pieces
by a land mine only to have those pieces tossed around by Tugg, who insists
it's all special effects, while a couple of villainous children take quite
a beating. It's also not for the PC: the funniest bits involve
Lazarus, so hilariously “in character” as a 21st Century white guy's idea
of what a 60's black guy is like. Ever the method actor, he CAN'T
get out of character, not even when he's the only one who realizes that
they're no longer in a movie, but he knows who he is: “I'm the dude
playing the dude disguised as another dude!” For Tugg, this is another
chance for dramatic legitimacy after his horrible failure in Simple
Jack, and when Lazarus lectures him about his acting choices and that
everyone knows “you never go full retard,” it's one of the most hysterically
offensive speeches in modern movie history.
But
what makes Tropic Thunder special is that second level to its' humor
that will be most appreciated not just by movie fans but fans of all the
politics that swirl around their making and promotion (particularly where
the Oscars are concerned). Let's be honest: every year has
a Simple Jack, Sean Penn was even nominated for Best Actor for his.
And they're always staged with a certain level of minstrel show chutzpah
Thunder carries to its' limit when Jack turns out to be pint-sized
drug lord Tran's favorite movie and Tugg is forced to put on a live performance
in white “retard face” every night he's in their clutches. Advocates
for the disabled have decried Tropic Thunder and its' use of the
“R” word, but I think they're missing the point: the movie isn't
attacking the mentally challenged, it's attacking the privileged showbiz
types who exploit the stereotype of the “adorable retard” for their own
enrichment (sorry if I've offended anyone by tossing the “R” word around
so liberally, but I think it's necessary to adequately describe the movie's
satirical use of it). Similar abuse is heaped upon Hollywood's love
affair with adopting foreign-born trophy kids: Tugg's in the process
of getting his very own Korean orphan when his captivity tosses one (played
by twins Jacob and J. Thomas Chon) into his lap and he becomes instantly,
insanely attached to someone he thinks will give him the kind of unconditional
love every actor pines away for. At least until the knife comes out...
What
helps to cut down on that self-loathing I talked about is that Tropic
Thunder is genuinely interested in the psychology of the actor and
how the different kinds of stars choose their method as an extension of
what they're looking to get out of the job. Tugg Speedman just wants
people to like him, and when they stop liking him at one thing, he'll try
to do something else. Jeff Portnoy is acting out the worst parts
of his personality onscreen, keeping his cycle of drug-addled self-loathing
running by inspiring an entire world to see him the way he sees himself.
And Kirk Lazarus is running from himself by seeking total submersion into
somebody else's skin. Not everyone's so complicated, of course:
Kevin Sandusky's just hoping to get laid because he was in a movie.
Kevin may be the movie's only character not hip-deep in self-deception,
and because we can see what makes these people tick, it's easier to feel
some sympathy for them at the same time they're acting like idiots.
The Hollywood front is also fascinating, with growling mogul Les Grossman
and desperate-to-please agent Rick Peck initially seeming to be one-dimensional
comic stereotypes, before finding themselves engaged in an operatic ethical
struggle that has a lot more weight than one might expect.
This
is Ben Stiller's first movie as director since 2001's underrated Zoolander,
which took broad swipes at the cult of celebrity and the structure of action
movies, but here he takes it to another level. Tropic Thunder
is savagely funny, ridiculously gory (one character in the movie-within-the-movie
hysterically holds his own guts for a LONG time without seeming much the
worse for it), and fairly profound. The only character I didn't feel
really clicks is Portnoy, who's running a fairly repetitive “I'll do anything
for my drugs” shtick that keeps him from ever seeming like a part of the
plot. He rarely interacts with the other characters and there's only
a moment or two when his travails have anything to say. But overall,
the script Stiller co-wrote with Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen (no, not
Ethan Coen, how many times a day do you think he answers THAT question?)
is both a razor-sharp satire and a pretty nifty action comedy.
Black
flounders in his underwritten role while Stiller does a nice job of pitching
his character to his starpower rather than his acting chops. But
Downey Jr. is utterly sensational, staking his own claim against Heath
Ledger's monumentally praised work in The Dark
Knight as the summer's best supporting performance. It would
have been so easy to make the “black” Kirk Lazarus a silly Wayans Brothers
caricature of African-Americans, but instead he finds a perfect high-wire
note between actually “playing black” and spoofing the very act of doing
so. He's helped out by lots of great one-liners contrasting his delusional
belief that he IS black with the obvious facts to the contrary. Putting
him over the top is the fact that he's also got a mean Russell Crowe impression
that bookends his performance, and he boosts it with real emotional depth.
Crowe himself would be proud, if he's not looking to punch Downey Jr. in
the face. Jackson has a lot of fun with his slow burn irritation
at being “the other black guy”, Baruchel puts a lot of star power behind
his role as the sane guy, and Nolte is a hoot as a guy whose insane demeanor
hides a shocking secret. McConaughey's Rick starts out as a
comic gem, desperately trying to hang onto Tugg's good will by obsessing
over the TiVo clause in his contract, but then shows surprising dramatic
shadings in his later scenes.
Which
brings us to Tom Cruise. Facing a pivot point in his career where
his off-screen image has eclipsed his on-screen stardom, he gives the character
role of Les Grossman everything he's got. On the one hand, he's hidden,
clad in a half-bald cap and slight fat suit that totally blows up his movie
star good looks. But on the other, he's finding an exciting new use
for his iconic persona: there's always been something scary about
the intensity of the glare, the air of privilege he wears like a finely
tailored suit. Maybe that's why people are so quick to believe the
worst about him. But either way, it's a formidable asset in this
role. Les seems like a bully and a buffoon, but when push comes to
shove, he's EVIL, and Cruise plays that to perfection.
Tropic
Thunder is the rare Hollywood satire that should play well to just
about everybody: it's got enough big laughs, big explosions and silly
plot twists to make up for all the in-jokes casual viewers will miss.
But it's the movie buffs who'll have the most fun: eagle-eyed viewers
should pay special attention during the climactic Oscar telecast:
look for both some fun cameos in the audience and a truly marvelous set
of Best Actor nominees on the screen. If the movie accomplishes nothing
else, perhaps it will make future trophy hogs less eager to go even “half-retard”
in their quest for accolades. Just say no, guys. Just say no. |
