When a Vietnam-era film shoot goes completely wrong, a novice director (Steve Coogan) throws his A-list cast (including Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr., and Jack Black) into the middle of the jungle, hoping to get authentic reactions from them with hidden cameras. But when director Cockburn is...removed from the picture, the actors have no idea what is real and what isn't. Thus beings their trek to, according to the script anyway, a prison camp and eventual "freedom." But things are never as easy as they seem.
I have the same issue with Tropic Thunder I have with nearly all comedy: sometimes it's hideously funny while, other times, it ends up pandering to the lowest common denominator, resulting in toilet humor. And I'm not a fan of the latter most of the time. So the half of this film which pokes fun at the Hollywood establishment and is honest to goodness funny? A home run. The other part, with fart jokes and nascent storylines and performances allowed to go on a bit too long? A bore.
One thing has to be said for Stiller's film: it has attracted a veritable cast of Hollywood elite. Aside from the three leads, there's Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughy, Bill Hader, Nick Nolte, Jon Voight, Lance Bass, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Tobey Maguire and many others-most in cameo appearances, but on screen nonetheless. What Thunder does so well is leap from the jungle story to the one in Hollywood, featuring Cruise and McConaughy. Just as we're approaching overkill with Tugg, Kirk and the actors, a different kind of overkill is thrown at us.
And to be fair, some of the humor is actually quite funny. When Cockburn goes where he's not supposed to-and the immediate aftermath-it's hard not to lose all sense of control. It's a moment which comes out of nowhere, but feels authentic to the story. Too many minor subplots or character traits are brought up and simply dismissed, though. Jack Black's Jeff Portnoy having a drug problem, Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) being gay, Tugg (Stiller) and Kirk (Downey, Jr.) realizing they really are friends in the long run...none are given even a modicum of respect or service. This is a comedy, after all. We're not supposed to be worrying about the plot, right?