Earlier this year, I felt that ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ had sent an ultimatum to the rest of the comedic moviemaking world. Make a movie as fresh and funny as this first time outing by Jason Segal. The youngster had thrown down the gauntlet and one by one the veterans had trouble stepping up to the plate. Some were decent (Carell’s Get Smart, Ferrell’s Step Brothers), some were above par but still fell short (Rogen’s Pineapple Express) and some landed flat on their face (Myer’s Love Guru, Murphy’s Meet Dave.) None could match the quality (laughter and quality of story) quotient of ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall.’ That is until Ben Stiller’s ‘Tropic Thunder’ came out this week. Not only did it match the quality quotient of ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ it was also a demonstration of what can only be done by a seasoned veteran with a hell of a lot of money and connections.
The two movies couldn’t be more different. Tropic Thunder isn’t a romantic comedy, it a biting satirical swipe at the movie industry. It is impressive the amount of new subject material that has been brought into the comedy forefront by this movie: Vietnam, Blackface, the mentally retarded, heroin withdrawls, environmental disasters. Does that sound like anything that might offend you if treated the wrong way? The incredible thing about this movie though is that all of this material is somehow okay because the joke always ends up on the door of a subject that’s perfectly fine to make fun of: Hollywood, obscene producers, method actors, pretentious directors, gung ho pyrotechnics, and crazy writers.
Tropic Thunder is the name of an Vietnam movie that stars Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman the action star, Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus the five time Oscar winner, Jack Black as a Hollywood badboy, and Brandon T. Jackson as rapper Alpa Chino. Steve Coogan is the first time director Damian Cockburn. Up and coming character actor Danny McBride is the gung ho explosives expert. Nick Nolte, plays the crazy Vietnam Vet turned writer. Matthew McCoughnahay is Stiller’s overzealous agent. Tom Cruise, in his best role since Magnolia, plays an obscene producer. Bill Hader, who seems to be in everything nowadays, is his assistant. That leaves out a score of other parts, but you get the sense of star power here. All of these parts are juggled effortlessly. Every single person has a great scene, or a great macho line, or a great back and forth dialogue. It’s hard to tell who’s stealing the scene from who. Ben Stiller, as a director here, has produced his finest movie, maybe even the best he’s ever been in. It is simply brilliant how truly an ensemble this movie is when it consists of so many over the top characters. You’d think they’d drown each other out but instead the nuttiness of one complements directly the nuttiness of another.
The two greatest performances are given by Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. At last Cruise super focused intensity is put to comic use. His profane producer is truly frightening and hilarious at the same time. You even get to see him dance. This movie has done the impossible. It’s made the guy cool again. Robert Downey Jr. on the other hand, was already super cool. With this movie, he probably will be remembered for many many many years to come as super cool. In the best performance of the movie, he plays a method actor from Australia that becomes black in order to play the part of the African American seargent. When the entire movie goes terribly wrong, his dedication is such that he still stays in character. I got the sense while watching that everyone involved was having a ball the entire time they filmed this. To be in that same room with Cruise or Downey Jr. would have been something to behold. Robert Downey Jr. has got to be nominated for this movie. Between him, Heath Ledger, James Franco, and Tom Cruise, the supporting actor category has filled up fast this year. I’ve got a feeling that this will be the year of the comedy
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