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Tropic Thunder (2008)

Director: Ben Stiller

Time Out rating

Average user rating

48 reviews

Synopsis

Five actors sign up for a war movie, only to find themselves fighting in an actual battle. Starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., and with controversial cameos from Tom Cruise and Owen Wilson.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Don’t be late for ‘Tropic Thunder’, or you’ll miss the second-best bit: the spoof trailers for ‘Scorcher VI’ starring action hero Tugg Speedman, ‘The Fatties 2’ starring gross-out favourite Jeff Portnoy and ‘Satan’s Alley’ starring Oscar-laden thesp Kirk Lazarus. Speedman, Portnoy and Lazarus – played by Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr respectively – are the leads in a bombastic Vietnam epic shooting on location in the Golden Triangle. The flailing Brit director (Steve Coogan) sets them loose in the jungle, intending to film their method-fuelled progress on hidden cameras, but they end up facing genuine combat together. Cue machine-guns all round, and then hugs.

The makers of ‘Tropic Thunder’ knew they had a challenge on their hands with the character of Lazarus, who is surgically blacked up to play an African-American soldier, meaning that Downey is too. They did a good job of defusing the issue in the US – they’re parodying Hollywood narcissism, not the black experience, for heaven’s sake! – and were enormously helped by Downey’s terrific, compulsive performance. Equal parts brash, bonkers and perplexed, he’s the film’s best bit. (The mental-health lobby was less than impressed by his bravura monologue about the perils of actors going ‘full retard’ in pursuit of Oscar glory, but that’s another story.)

Certainly, the film works much better as Tinseltown parody than as action flick or character drama; on those terms, which co-writer and director Stiller seems to have taken seriously, it’s pretty ordinary stuff. But its better moments of self-referential snark, such as an ace cameo from Tom Cruise as an obnoxious studio exec, have the feel of a superior end-of-term revue.

Author: Ben Walters 2008-09-16 10:08:45

Time Out London Issue 1987, 17-23 Sept, 2008

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User reviews of this film

Kojak said...

Posted on Nov 30 2008 21:26 Didn't see what was funny about this film at all. A film lacking in wit, a decent plot and interest. However, Tom Cruise and his sidekick dancing around like morons was quite funny.

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RockAndRoll said...

Posted on Nov 20 2008 17:03 After a very well constructed opening, I settled in to enjoy what promised to be a stonking satirical tirade with intense action and great gags. Sadly, everything went rapidly downhill and it just got....well....boring. Some people walked out of the cinema; some tried to force laughs. We WANTED to like it, but it was soooooo hard to. I had to give up trying to like it in the end and start hating every minute of it. A fabulous cast was criminally wasted on the weakest script I've come across since.......probably Shyamalan's shambolic The Happening. An atrocious waste of talent and money, apart from THAT opening.

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nathan said...

Posted on Oct 31 2008 10:39 i think dats wat it is mate, londoners r waaay to borin 2 find this film funni. and people bothered by bad language? wtf if u dnt like swearin u shudnt see a film wiv ben stiller nd jack black in it! its a 15 4 a reason, oh no sum1 sed a naughty word!

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Benni said...

Posted on Oct 30 2008 08:26 Best film i have ever seen i cannot believe some of you dont like it its coz u lot r from london only us from up north like it coz we can follow a simple plot

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Maggie Martin said...

Posted on Oct 29 2008 16:21 This was without doubt the most dire film I have ever sat through, It contained a lot of foul language and that's about all. Like one of your other reviewers I too would have walked out had I not been with friends. Ben Stiller should be ashamed of himself. I only hope he didn't make any money from this complete load of rubbish.

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nathan said...

Posted on Oct 25 2008 12:43 i was the onli 1 in the cinema laughin! i loved the whole dramatic irony and hollywood parody thing it had goin on, maybe sum people dnt get it, or maybei just laugh too much! i loved it, but everyone else who seen it hated it. 4 stars

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rouge-doncaster said...

Posted on Oct 25 2008 11:48 I CANNOT BELIVE HOW BORING AND SILLY THIS MOVIE WAS! i think the only funny part was where that guy says ''hold my hands'' and his hands luk like palm treees hahahha thats was well funny...but rest of the film was borrrrrrringggggggg!! anyone wanting to watch this film.. dnt forget to take a pillow with u just incase u fall aslp mwah xx

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Conor said...

Posted on Oct 22 2008 22:37 I was disappointed and had to force myself to laugh at the "funny bits". There were some funny bits in it, but with one of the actors being Ben Stiller, i expected a lot more as I think he is halirious.

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Ester T said...

Posted on Oct 20 2008 16:05 I went to see this film with my friend, and I have to say I was dissapointed. I found myself forcing a laugh at the 'funny bits' to make it less awkward. Otherwise we would of sat there in complete silence. There were some bits which made you giggle a bit, but I was expecting this film to be hilarious especially as Ben Stiller is in it (I absolutly loved Meet the Parents and Meet the fockers) The acting was quite good, but It just wasn't funny and the plot is really hard to follow and just gets tiresome. I don't think I would see this film again.

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Finley said...

Posted on Oct 18 2008 23:19 worst film i hav ever seen, almost fell asleep, would hav walked out if i wasnt with friends

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mary said...

Posted on Oct 16 2008 20:36 Just too violent for me: with some laughs but the special effects were rather good.

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ms said...

Posted on Oct 16 2008 11:56 Absolute rubbish

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lisa smith said...

Posted on Oct 15 2008 17:38 this is a wicked film, a must see!!!!!

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julie said...

Posted on Oct 14 2008 18:53 Come on own up - all those peeps that loved this movie come from South London whilst the rest of us that found it a tedious drag are sensible North Londoners - am I right?

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nicky said...

Posted on Oct 14 2008 18:49 Let's face it there's some rubbish films out on general release at the mo - and this is one of them. I admit to being one of those "wrong sort of people" - God bless you Turnip713 head.

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