Review: Tropic Thunder

Review: Tropic Thunder

Rating: ***

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 83%

This movie really made me laugh. The satire was brutal; the dialogue was pretentiously silly. Ben Stiller is one of the best comedic actors out there -- not at all afraid of making himself look absolutely asinine. Tropic Thunder is not a laugh-a-minute-out-loud kind of movie. Instead, it develops a plot which gets increasingly ludicrous, silly, and bizarre. The situation drives the comedy. And the satire focuses on movies themselves -- no holds are barred. Stiller plays a Tom Cruise-type action hero bent on being taken seriously after a disastrous appearance in a "sensitive role" about a retarded man called "Simple Jack." Brandon Jackson plays a hip hop star, harboring a secret, who hopes to be taken seriously as an actor. Jack Black portrays an Eddie Murphy comedian whose films focus on an obese family (all members played by him) whose lives revolve around passing gas. Robert Downey Jr. is a "serious" Australian method actor (a la Russell Crowe) who has undergone a pigment change so that he can play a black soldier in this picture about a group of men fighting in the Viet Nam War. Rounding out this bizarre group is Tom Cruise playing a cameo as a deranged studio exec sans scruples. It's over-the-top (sometimes gross-out) humor and Downey and Cruise deserve their Golden Globe nominations. Don't blame me if you hate it. It's not for everyone, but the send up of the movie industry is priceless.

Nonna's Ratings:
$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it