Conceptually speaking, the distance between Tropic Thunder and Scary Movie, Epic Movie, Superhero Movie, et. al. is relatively small. At the heart of all of the films is the central conceit of trying to make a genre film while pointing out the flaws of said genre. The difference between the two lies in the approach taken; the Fill-In-The-Blank Movie series busies itself with recreating the recognizable moments of other films while Tropic Thunder attempts to critique the industry responsible for unleashing these films on the public. Whether or not it is funny is a matter of personal tasteÑI will admit that I laughed a lotÑbut its success in achieving its more lofty goals deserves further inspection. Spoilers follow.
A neophyte director is charged with making a big-budget Vietnam War film with waning action star Tugg Speedman (Stiller), respected character actor Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr), and scatological comic Jeff Portnoy (Black). Prima donna attitudes delay shooting and cause budget overruns so he attempts a new tactic: drop the five lead actors into a simulated threatening situation, then film their actual reactions cinema-verite’ style. UnfortunatelyÑif not propitiouslyÑthings go horribly awry and the actors are forced to escape from heroin smugglers. What begins as a send up of hyper-macho war dramas ultimately ends up becoming one, complete with a happy ending for everyone involved after they’ve learned valuable life lessons about themselves.
Stiller and company’s satire of modern Hollywood is quite barbed but wisely avoids any direct attacks. Some rough parallels can be drawnÑPortnoy’s claim to fame are Eddie Murphy-style one-man-shows, Lazarus is a more accomplished version of Russell CroweÑbut no one personage or film takes the brunt of their assault. This lack of a real target is the main flaw of Tropic Thunder. It goes out of its way to be transgressive, perhaps even purposefully attempting to generate controversy, but lacks any real teeth in any of these instances. Tropic Thunder doesn’t pull its punches; rather, it tries to tell you that it didn’t punch you at all. Near the end of the film, Stiller’s character is being attacked by a small child who he angrily throws off an exploding bridge, presumably to its death. Moments later, the child is shown crawling around unharmed. This cycle of transgression followed by an apology is repeated throughout the film, negating any energy created by the taboo behavior and somewhat chastising the audience for laughing at it in the first place.
I see the unfocused satire to be at the heart of the controversy around Downey Jr’s character and the film’s alleged insensitivity toward the mentally challenged. In each instance, Tropic Thunder is pointedly attacking aspects of HollywoodÑthe opportunities for African-Americans in film and the idea that playing a “retard” is an easy path to an OscarÑbut it is doing so in such a subtle way that it easily understandable how these concepts could misunderstood. The film does overuse the jokes directed at the mentally challenged (however less so than Something About Mary or The Ringer, in my opinion) but if you go by the real intent of the jokes it is Sean Penn that should be upset, not advocacy groups.
Where Tropic Thunder seems to have the biggest issue is the line between “laughing at” and “laughing with.” The best example of this is Tom Cruise’s overblown movie producer, Les Grossman. Cruise is obviously satirizing actual producers, hilariously and by all accounts accurately. The average filmgoer has no concept of a film producer therefore they end up laughing only because “crazy Tom Cruise” is acting in a way typically unexpected of him. At, not with. I see Tropic Thunder as having a real intelligence behind it and actually having something to say, yet with character names like “Pecker” and “Cockburn,” it takes the low-brow route whenever given the chance. Stiller ultimately seems unconcerned with conveying any message to the audience and is willing to settle for laughs anyway he can get themÑat or with.
by David Carter | Source: Theatrical Print
17 Aug 2008 9:14 PM | Comments (1)
I really liked this movie, both for its sharp satire and utmost “ham”iness.
Matt K
19 August 2008
11:26 AM
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