Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder is a Hollywood movie in pretty much every sense of the word. It's made by Hollywood about Hollywood, and pretty much every single actor in Hollywood is either in it or is made fun of in it (sometimes both).

It's a parody movie and a parody of a movie. It stars actors whose characters are the sort of actors who do things the way the actors who portray the characters would do things. If you look at it the right way, TT is a bit like that M.C. Escher painting with all the stairwells leading everywhere and nowhere at once.

Not that it's even a bit confusing. Tropic Thunder tells a story that's been told many times before: The story of performers being forced to really do the thing they only pretend to do. (See, for example, Three Amigos or A Bug's Life.) In this case, the performers are actors in a war movie who then must become reasonable facsimiles of real soldiers in order to save one of their own.

The characters in the film are types, absolutely, but they're types with such readily recalled real-life analogues that they seem entirely real. Ben Stiller (who also directed) is Tugg Speedman, a once bankable action star who is seeing his clout plummeting (Stephen Seagal? Tom Cruise?). Robert Downey Jr. is Kirk Lazarus, an Australian actor known for his method acting and for his multiple Oscar wins (some combination of Russel Crowe and Daniel-Day Lewis?). Jack Black is the beloved and belittled (and drug-addicted) star of films such as Fatties: Fart 2--in which he plays every character in a fat and flatulent family (not even a veiled reference to Eddie Murphy). These three are joined by Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino--a rapper most known for hawking a soft drink called "Booty Sweat"--and Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky, the first-time actor who happens to be the only one doing things as the director intends.

The plot gets legs when the director, Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), gets reamed out by producer Les Grossman (Tom Cruise in a lauded cameo) for blowing several million dollars on an expensive, explosive shot in which none of the actors were doing what they needed to do. At his wit's end, Cockburn takes the advice of writer and war veteran Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), who tells him that the actors need to experience some real combat in order to be able to properly make this film.

Of course, as is the case with films of this sort, the actors gradually realize that what was once make-believe has become real, and--again, according to the formula--they rise to the occassion.

But, as is the case is in comedies, the plot is only there as delivery vehicle for jokes. And the jokes here do pretty well on average. As with any parody, it occassionally falls into the pattern trailblazed by Family Guy (on the good side) and Not Another Date Disaster Epic Movie (on the evil side): merely substituting reference (and, sometimes, crudeness) for comedy. But Tropic Thunder does deliver some solid comedy, and some of its best work is very referential. Take, for example, Lazarus' speech to Speedman, who is just coming off an ill-advised and much-derided role in which he plays a retarded character called Simple Jack:

Lazarus: Everybody knows you never go full retard.

Speedman: What do you mean?

Lazarus: Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man, look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho'. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump. Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. Peter Sellers, "Being There." Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don't buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, I Am Sam. Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed..."

Tropic Thunder is the second movie that Ben Stiller has directed, and already some themes are beginning to emerge. He enjoys poking fun at those who are lauded for superficial reasons, despite being a bit empty inside -- yet he also makes those characters his heroes. He loves employing the well-timed cameo (Tom Cruise here, David Bowie in Zoolander). He loves his stupid humor, but he's proven capable of employing it in some smart ways.

And like Zoolander, Tropic Thunder is pretty good. But only pretty good. It delivers enough laughs in enough ways that you don't feel as though your two hours were wasted. But it doesn't offer a character memorable enough or a vision transformative enough to push the film from successful to excellent. Tropic Thunder is a bit more sophisticated than Zoolander, but--in receiving an 8--it still can't crack that double-digit barrier.