Ben Stiller returns to the director's seat this month with Tropic Thunder, a big budget Hollywood comedy-war-flick. Featuring a star-studded ensemble, it took this cast of Hollywood heavy hitters to finally knock The Dark Knight off its perch at the American box office.
Starring Ben Stiller, Matthew Mc Conaughey, Tom Cruise, Jack Black and Nick Nolte with dozens of cameos by the likes of Jon Voight and Jason Bateman, Tropic Thunder's cast list reads like the guest list to the Oscars.
The story focuses around a group of actors who are shooting a big-budget movie in a jungle and are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying. American celebrity gossip show 'Access Hollywood' opens the movie, as the presenter describes the disastrous production of the film, which is only five days into shooting and already ‘the most expensive war movie ever made'.
The film within the film is based on the war memoirs of veteran Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte). Dealing with diva demands and budget constraints, director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) decides to film guerrilla-style in the jungle, where his pampered actors are forced to go extreme method. Struggling to find their way out of the jungle, they accidentally stumble into a heroin cartel...
The movie's strength lies in its continuous send-up of Hollywood and its actors. While satirising the whole industry, Tropic Thunder also makes millions for the film industry, thus helping it perpetuate everything they ridicule. It's a strange circle.
But quality comedy performances feature across the board, beginning with Robert Downey Jr's controversial Kirk Lazarus character.
Lazarus is a pretentious method actor and "five-time Oscar winner" who adopts an offensive accent and dyes his skin black refusing to break from character ‘until the DVD commentary is wrapped'. Lazarus puts his energy into winding up his co-star and failing action hero Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) with pompous phrases like; "I don't read scripts. Scripts read me."
Jack Black fans will be disappointed by the limited screen time granted to the actor's turn as heroin-addict and star of The Fatties movie franchise, Jeff Portnoy - especially since Tom Cruise is given more scope to bring laughs as studio head Les Grosseman, a hip-hop loving egomaniac.
Yes you read correctly, even Tom Cruise manages to be funny.
With oodles of pot shots at the war classics, particularly Apocalypse Now and Platoon, Tropic Thunder does lose some momentum towards the end but still attains what it no doubt sets out to do - be silly, loud, funny and quotable.
The new Anchorman? Quite possibly.
As the tagline says: "Get some!"
Film Information
Theatrical release date: 19 September 2008
Directed by Ben Stiller
Cast Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr, Jack Black, Nick Nolte
Runtime: 107 mins
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