There’s little that’s not completely and utterly offensive about Tropic Thunder, aside even from That Issue, the one that got a lot of headlines and attention, but which is such a small actual thing in actuality.
The movie, of course, carries the title of the movie that we’re watching being made. And the movie we’re watching being made is going horribly, horribly wrong.
A bunch of stars - a cocky action star whose stock is falling, a flatulent comic looking to break out a from his rut and a method actor willing to fully immerse himself in a character - set out to make a Vietnam war movie with a first-time director at the helm. But when egos get in the way and the movie is being threatened with shut-down, the director decides to take those pampered stars out into the real jungles and shoot the movie in what he hopes will be a more realistic fashion.
Things, of course, go badly.
What works the most about the movie is that every one involved seems fully committed to the roles they’re playing. Stiller is completely believable as a Tom Cruise-ish actor with a huge ego and little talent. Downey, as the method actor who undergoes skin-pigmentation surgery in order to play an African-American, never winks at the audience about the absurdity his role. Even Black, famous for his inability to not mug to the camera, makes his role as the broad comic work on a level it really shouldn’t.
Adding to that are small roles by Tom Cruise (oh shut it - it’s not a spoiler at this point) as the profanity-heavy studio boss and Matthew McConaughey as Stiller’s character’s agent, obsessed with making sure his client has his on-location TiVo.
The funny thing is that I actually don’t think Tropic Thunder works very well as Hollywood satire. That’s largely because there’s simply too much of it in the movie for most of the jokes to actually have time to land. Instead it’s the performances that shine through. So it’s a good thing those performances are so strong.
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Chris Thilk