Last night we checked out TROPIC THUNDER, which turned out to be the funniest movie I have seen in forever. Have always like Robert Downey, Jack Black cracks me up and killed in SCHOOL OF ROCK (but kinda lost me with NACHO LIBRE), and Ben Stiller has been grating on me since Zoolander, so my enthusiasm level was only so-so for this. Needing a laugh, and the showtime was right, we found ourselveves plunking down our ticket money...
This movie is BRILLIANT. Hilarious satire of all things Hollywood, lampooning pretentious actors, genre filmmaking, Hollywood insiders and all the behind-the-scenes machinations that go into making a big budget film. I can’t really give anything away, unfortunately, because (not knowing much about this film until the credits rolled…) the best parts all come as surprises. From the opening moments, where we are introduced to the characters via “trailers” to their respective upcoming projects (and in one case, a product endorsement/ alternate “revenue stream”…), to the surprise cameos (The secret Tom Cruise appearance has already been revealed and lauded), TROPIC THUNDER is right up there with WAG THE DOG (1997’s political satire) as one of Hollywood’s smartest and most effective send-ups.
The gist of the plot centers around the film adaptation of a Vietnam War vet’s memoir, and what happens when the plan to shoot the film in a hyper realistic guerilla-style (drop the actors in the jungle with a vague script outline, hidden cameras and special-effects devices planted along the way) goes horribly awry unbeknownst to the actors involved… (To say any more wouldn't be fair to ya...)
Gleefully over-the-top, at times comically violent, and incredibly self-aware, TROPIC THUNDER is so much better than it even deserves to be. I laughed for 105 minutes straight...
This movie is BRILLIANT. Hilarious satire of all things Hollywood, lampooning pretentious actors, genre filmmaking, Hollywood insiders and all the behind-the-scenes machinations that go into making a big budget film. I can’t really give anything away, unfortunately, because (not knowing much about this film until the credits rolled…) the best parts all come as surprises. From the opening moments, where we are introduced to the characters via “trailers” to their respective upcoming projects (and in one case, a product endorsement/ alternate “revenue stream”…), to the surprise cameos (The secret Tom Cruise appearance has already been revealed and lauded), TROPIC THUNDER is right up there with WAG THE DOG (1997’s political satire) as one of Hollywood’s smartest and most effective send-ups.
The gist of the plot centers around the film adaptation of a Vietnam War vet’s memoir, and what happens when the plan to shoot the film in a hyper realistic guerilla-style (drop the actors in the jungle with a vague script outline, hidden cameras and special-effects devices planted along the way) goes horribly awry unbeknownst to the actors involved… (To say any more wouldn't be fair to ya...)
Gleefully over-the-top, at times comically violent, and incredibly self-aware, TROPIC THUNDER is so much better than it even deserves to be. I laughed for 105 minutes straight...
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