August 19, 2008 -- “Tropic Thunder” is a little like “Galaxy Quest,” where actors try to become heroes in real life. The film, written, directed and starring Ben Stiller, has a pretty good basic idea, but it falls a little short in execution. The basic idea is that actors become stranded in the jungle of Southeast Asia making a Vietnam War film. Through a series of circumstances they can't really tell if they are in a movie or not when they encounter the heavily-armed forces of a drug lord. Some are captured by the drug lord and others attempt a rescue, even though their guns don't shoot real bullets. It almost works, but not quite.

Stiller (“Night at the Museum”) plays fading action hero Tugg Speedman who is desperately trying to revive his career in a big budget action film. Jeff Portnoy (played by Jack Black of “School of Rock”). Is in a similar situation, famous for a series of gross-out comedies (featured as one of several very funny fake movie trailers at the beginning of the film) Portnoy is a screw-up with an addiction to drugs. They are joined by multi-award-winning actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr. of “Iron Man”) and newcomer Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel of “Knocked Up”). The nerdy-looking Sandusky is virtually ignored until the group gets lost in the jungle. At that point, his expertise is needed. He is the only member of the troupe who has read the script, the book on which it was based (written by John “Four Leaf” Tayback, played by Nick Nolte of “The Spiderwick Chronicles”) and who has attended a special “boot camp” for actors training to look like soldiers. Rounding out the troupe is hip hop star Alpa Chino (a takeoff on the name of famed actor Al Pacino, played by Brandon T. Jackson of “Roll Bounce”).

Through a series of wildly improbable circumstances this dysfunctional group of actors is stranded in the jungle, thinking they are making a movie. Back in Hollywood, Speedman's agent, Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey of “Fool's Gold”) is obsessing over Speedman's lack of a Tivo in the jungle. Studio head Les Grossman (Tom Cruise of the “Mission Impossible” films) is angry that the film is over budget and behind schedule due to the film's rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan of “Night at the Museum”) being unable to control the film's stars. When those same stars get lost in the jungle, Grossman sees a way to salvage the film by collecting on the project's insurance policy. The fact that cast members may die in order for the studio to collect the insurance money is of no concern to him.

The film starts out being farfetched and it becomes more ridiculous and unbelievable as it goes along. There is a conclusion of sorts, but by that time the wheels have fallen off. The film's saving grace is the acting. There are outstanding performances by Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise, both of whom are hard to recognize due to heavy makeup. Downey plays his Lazarus role in blackface, which forms the basis of a running gag with the black actor Alpa Chino, who is irritated by Lazarus' bad black accent and the fact that he won't get out of character. Lazarus quips that he won't get out of character until he's finished with the DVD commentary. Cruise not only appears as an overweight, balding profane studio director, he also is adorned with massive amounts of chest and arm hair. Cruise gets into his performance with gusto. At times, he's oily, at other times almost hysterical with anger. This will not go over well with some studio executives in Hollywood. Matthew McConaughey also gives a good performance as a conflicted agent who has a hard time deciding whether or not to sell out his client for money. Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson and Nick Nolte all give good supporting performances, as does Danny R. McBride of “Pineapple Express,” who plays explosives expert Cody.

While the film is not believable in the slightest, even “Galaxy Quest” seems more likely, the characters, at least, are believable. Part of the credit goes to the script which does provide a basis for development of these characters. Much of the credit also goes to the actors. The film is very funny at times. It is best when it pokes fun at Hollywood. There is an extended conversation between Speedman and Lazarus about the politics of Oscar awards concerning the depiction of handicapped people in movies (examples: Russell Crowe in “A Beautiful Mind,” Dustin Hoffman in “Rainman,” Tom Hanks in “Forrest Gump” and specifically no Oscar for Sean Penn for his role in “I Am Sam”). This conversation, during which the word “retard” (as in the reason Sean Penn didn't win an Oscar for playing a retarded person while Tom Hanks did is because it is always a mistake to go “full retard”) is spoken often, has drawn the ire of some people because it is politically incorrect, but it is actually pretty insightful, and funny. There are a lot of other funny Hollywood in-jokes in this movie-within-a-movie. This film rates a C+

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Copyright © 2008 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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