Tropic Thunder

Platoon: A Comedy in 2 Acts is maybe a better title than Tropic Thunder, though it works pretty well, too.  Ben Stiller writes, directs, and produces himself, along with Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr., Matthew McConaughey, Nick Nolte, Danny McBride, and Tom Cruise, in what turns out to be one of the funniest movies of 2008.  It’s sidesplitting humor from big names having a ton of fun.  And it spoofs a few famous war movies, too.

I will start by saying that Robert Downey Jr.’s character, Kirk Lazarus, is comic gold, with genius comic timing, and all this done in blackface.  I’m not sure that’s even legal, and it’s funnier if it isn’t.  The cast alone for this one probably cost about $100 billion, but it was entirely worth it.  Tom Cruise’s character, Les Grossman, unpublicized, is one of the best things ole Cruisie has done for his career in about a half a decade.  Valkyrie was entertaining, but Grossman is a brilliant career move.  In a day when people see Cruise as an idiot mostly and then an actor, it will only help that he let his hair down to step into Grossman’s thick skin.  Stiller’s prima donna character and Black’s coke addicted one are pretty much predictable, but still very funny, and the latter is very crass (would he be Jack Black otherwise?), which makes his character that much funnier, honestly.  Nick Nolte and Danny McBride are a tagteam in this, playing oddballs that McBride is getting very used to, it seems (see Pineapple Express).

The writing is the first Stiller has really done since Zoolander, but it doesn’t show, and his directing hand is really good here, too.  His star-status is probably one of the main things that allows him to direct such huge names as are in this one, especially since he is probably friends with nearly all of them.  The music is appropriately ridiculous, which, though used by many directors, is becoming a Stillerism, and it works well here.  There are no huge surprises in the plot, but the plot isn’t as important as the hilarious character-acting going on by Downey and the others.

I laughed so hard I thought I might asphyxiate.  This movie is about as funny as they come.  If you haven’t had the chance to see it yet, and you don’t mind F-bombs every 2.6 seconds, you’ll enjoy Tropic Thunder.  I almost can’t believe I waited as long as I did.

Rating: 3/4 Stars