Tropic Thunder (2008)

Director: Ben Stiller
Story: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux
Cast: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Tom Cruise 
Music: Theodore Shapiro
Time: 120 minutes
Bottom-line: Superbly acted, well filmed and absolutely hilarious! 

Probably the most successful among all Ben Stiller’s directorial films, Tropic Thunder is a satirical comedy in which he plays the lead, along with Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and Tom Cruise. The film begins with these lines: “Out of the 10 men sent to rescue Sergeant Tayback from an NVA camp, four returned, out of whom three wrote books about the incidents, out of which two were published, and only one got a movie deal. This is the story of the men who attempted to make that movie...”

Stiller as Speedman

The movie crew consists of a used-to-be-star Tugg Speedman (Stiller), five time Academy Award winner Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr.), rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), drug-addicted comedian Jeff Portnoy (Black), novice actor Kevin (Jay Baruchel), director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), the author of Tropic Thunder, Sergeant Tayback (Nick Nolte) and foul-mouthed producer Les Grossman (Cruise). The director is heavily criticised for not being able to handle the set of prima donnas, and the actors don’t get along with each other either. Grossman has half a mind to cancel the film. So Tayback and Cockburn come up with a plan – they will drop the actors in the middle of the jungle, which is rigged with hidden cameras and special effects explosives; the filming will be done guerrilla style. However, what they don’t know is that they have actually dropped them in the heart of the Golden Triangle – home of the heroin producing gang Flaming Dragon. While the actors are armed with nothing but a map and guns that fire blanks, they must using only their skills to get away alive from the jungle. When Speedman and Tayback taken hostage, Jeff’s drug issues causing serious havoc, and with the actors having no idea of the danger they are in, it is going to take a true miracle to solve the problems and make a proper movie.

RDJ as Lazarus

Who said they were capable of only playing superheroes and secret agents? In Tropic Thunder we see probably the best performance of Downey Jr. and one of the most hilarious ones of Tom Cruise. The former plays an Australian method actor, acting as a black character Sgt. Osiris for the movie (within the movie). RDJ makes you applaud in wonder as he puts on a Vernacular English accent, shows a wide range of expressions and constantly hits you with biting one-liners. Cruise puts on a fat suit, fake hands and a bald cap and is practically unrecognisable as Les Grossman. The profanity goes overboard but with his amazing dance moves and dialogues, Cruise’s character is simply stunning. The film’s ensemble cast comes together beautifully; even the actors like Matthew McConaughey who barely comes for about 15 minutes have done their parts well.

Black as Jeff

I really liked the plot twists in the story; there is not a single dull moment in the film, and every act has a surprise to offer. The dialogues are responsible to lift the film – be it one-liners (including Lazarus’ “You just went full retard man... never go full retard”) or hilarious conversations, particularly from RDJ. I liked the way the characters, each with their own problems and strengths came together to make a film and in the course of that they undergo a change in their lives as well. To make the characters more authentic, the film begins with faux trailers to introduce the actors of the film-within-the-film. In fact, to promote the film, fake websites were created for the characters of the film!

Yeah this is actually Tom Cruise, as Les Grossman!

Tropic Thunder will most certainly give you your money’s worth of entertainment; you just have to be ready, to GET SOME! 

My Rating: 4/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 83%