Tropic Thunder * (2008, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T Jackson) – Classic Movie Review 12,959

Ben Stiller’s disagreeable and dodgy 2008 satirical action comedy film Tropic Thunder is a laugh-free zone, playing into the hands of the woke folk.

The disagreeable and dodgy 2008 satirical action comedy film Tropic Thunder is directed by Ben Stiller, who wrote the slack and smug screenplay with Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen. As a Hollywood-bashing comedy, it has a lot of hate in its heart, well it would have it it had a heart. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! Its depiction of disabled people and its use of blackface makeup attracted deserved controversy that did no harm to the box office in the different era of 2008.

The film stars Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Jay Baruchel, and Brandon T Jackson as hapless actors making a Vietnam War film, forced to rely on their iffy acting skills to survive real action and danger after getting lost in the middle of a jungle.

The cast also includes Nick Nolte, Danny McBride, Matthew McConaughey, Bill Hader, Steve Coogan and Tom Cruise.

The parodies of war films, Hollywood excesses, the studio system and method acting are mostly pretty obvious and boring. The film just isn’t clever, witty or funny, raising few laughs. There is a wealth of talent on the performing side, with many funny performers. It’s just that the talent is not being used well. Robert Downey Jr might have been praised for his performance as Kirk Lazarus, an Australian method actor who surgically darkens his skin pigment to play an African-American soldier, but there can be no doubt that his portrayal is offensive. Tom Cruise is quite bad as Les Grossman, the balding, profane, ill-tempered studio executive producing Tropic Thunder.

It’s spot the celebrity time. Famous folk appear as themselves, including Tobey Maguire, Tyra Banks, Maria Menounos, Martin Lawrence, The Mooney Suzuki, Jason Bateman, Lance Bass, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Alicia Silverstone, Christine Taylor, Mini Anden, Anthony Ruivivar, Yvette Nicole Brown, Rachel Avery, Sean Penn, and Jon Voight.

It was a global hit after its release on August 13, 2008, taking $195.7 million in cinemas worldwide on a high $92 million budget.

Downey was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, while he and Cruise were nominated for Golden Globe Awards. At the 81st Oscars, Downey lost to Heath Ledger, who won posthumously as The Joker in The Dark Knight.

On 21 February 2023, Ben Stiller said on Twitter that he has never apologized  for Tropic Thunder and defended the film after it was targeted by the woke crowd alleging racist undertones and offensive depictions of the disabled.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,959

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