dharmaduf

“Tropic Thunder” (2008)

Agree with Mr. Lonelysandwich. It was nice to laugh out loud at the theater again. Stiller (and Co.) should stick to R-rated movies, and the dialog it allows.

lonelysandwich:

My expectations of greatness were tempered by disappointment in the other Big Comedy of the month, which I won’t name because why be negative, but it sounds like “Nineapple Mexpress”.  That said, “Tropic Thunder” is “the most fun I’ve had in the theater since maybe earlier 2008,” gushes Adam Lisagor of the website Lonelysandwich.

I was dubious how engaged I could be in a war movie parody since I generally find war boring (it’s the monotonous green color palette that makes me zone out).  But, being a sensitive LA-type, the Hollywood movie-in-a-movie shit is right up my wheelhouse.

Verisimilitude makes this movie what it is.  But it’s the type of verisimilitude that can only be bought for a lot of money.  When the show starts with a series of incredible trailer parodies (the Jack Black character’s, my personal favorite), each begins with a legitimate film studio banner (Universal, New Line, and Fox, respectively) that actually bring a laugh by their otherwise real and self-important nature.  Had the parody trailers been brought to you by parody film studios, the illusion would’ve been shattered from the get-go and the joke reduced to a wackity-schmackity-doo.  By the same token, every celebrity cameo is the right celebrity cameo - the celebrity gay at the Oscars is the right celebrity gay, at no small expense, I’d guess.

Do you know who they got to shoot the movie?  John Toll, ASC.  The ‘ASC’ stands for “I Shot a Little Picture Called ‘The Thin Red Line’ - Heard of it?”.

And do you know who they got to do Robert Downey Jr.’s makeup?  Think of a makeup artist.  You’re thinking of Rick Baker.  You’re right.  Rick fucking ‘American Werewolf in London which I haven’t seen but is supposed to be stupendous’ Baker.

And do you know who deftly cowrote the tight and hilarious script?  You probably don’t.  Actor/director Justin Theroux, for my money, the most talented handsome actor working today.  There’s a nice little interview with him in Vulture in which he says the following funny thing: “There are plenty of actors who are brilliant people, and plenty who should not be allowed on talk shows.”

This movie could easily have taken its heaps of cash and ego and gone in the wrong direction.  But as it happened, everyone involved (including Tom Cruise) made something awesome with all their cash and ego in the fun and ridiculous spirit of big-budget moviemaking.