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In
the picture
Tropic Thunder***1/2
*ing: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr, Jack Black, Brandon T.
Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and Nick Nolte.
Directed by: Ben Stiller
Tagline: The movie they think they're making... isn't a movie anymore
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Read
newspapers, magazines or just check out the websites, Tropic Thunder
is the most recent blockbuster that has laughed its way up to the
charts. Directed and written by Ben Stiller along with Justin Theroux,
the movie can't really be labelled a sophisticated comedy - it is
a surprisingly rollicking roller coaster ride of absurdities and mishaps.
The start of the movie reveals that in 1969, the US sends a troop
of 10 soldiers to Vietnam on a top secret assignment. Amongst them,
only four returned. Out of four, three wrote books. Out of three,
two got published and just one got a movie deal. That book was by
soldier Four Leaf Tayback and Tropic Thunder is about the movie that
is based on that war book.
A group of self-absorbed actors and an ambitious director set out
to make the most expensive war film. But after ballooning costs force
the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to
stop shooting and leads his cast into the jungles of Vietnam, where
they encounter the real bad guys. There is no crew, no production
team, hidden cameras, a script in hand and a dead director. Their
biggest problem is that they think they are still… shooting!
Ben Stiller (Tugg Speedman), Robert Downey Jr. (Kirk Lazarus), Jack
Black (Jeff Portnoy), Brandon T. Jackson (Alpa Chino), and Jay Baruchel
(Kevin Sandusky) are dropped off in the jungle to get some footage
that director Steve Coogan (Damien Cockburn) needs. Matt McConaughey
plays Stiller's over-the-top agent and Tom Cruise (Less Grossman)
does an amazing job as the studio chief. Throw in Nick Nolte (Four
Leaf Tayback) as the war film's source material and Danny McBride
(Cody) as the over-eager pyrotechnics man and that's the team who
will are left in the jungle to make the biggest war film and enact
the reality. They all have very solid laughs attached to their characters
that give all of them their margin to define their roles. |
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Some
of the funny scenes are when Ben Stiller is caught by the Vietnamese
and he is saying his lines thinking it's one of the scenes going on
from the movie. The Vietnamese turn out to be fans of Stiller as they
loved his movie 'Simple Jack' in which he plays a mentally retarded
boy. They then torture him for playing Simple Jack and entertain the
crowd where he forms a special bond with a little kid and starts calling
him his son. The true identity revelation of Four Leaf Tayback is
rather humorous too. But it's the climax that really steals the show.
Had writer/director Ben Stiller opted for less crude humour, it would've
been far more effective.
Despite being comedy, Tropic Thunder got some controversies attached
to it. Ben Stiller's portrayal of a character called 'Simple Jack'
has raised eye brows. The "retarded" role was one he took
in an attempt to win acting accolades from the movie lovers. There
is a scene |
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the characters say 'retard' a few times and is actually one
of the best satire scenes in the movie. It isn't meant to make
fun of mentally challenged people, rather the actors that have
won Oscars for playing them, say Tom Hanks for Forest Gump.
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There is a thin line between light satire and hard hitting offence
and it was not an attack on mentally disabled people but they
were just mocking the fellow actors and their movies that have
won them Oscars for such roles. It's comedy and should be laughed
off without creating an issue over it.
Now for the acting, it will be unjust to name a few actors and
leave the rest because all were perfect in their characters.
Even Coogan, with his small role, was memorable. And, Tom Cruise
is one evil character you will love to hate. Again, Tropic Thunder
can get crude at times, it has some disgusting scenes too but
it's basically the absurdities in the movie that are enjoyable.
So, if you can take in humour, in both light and hard ways,
then Tropic Thunder might just be the answer to your bored weekend.
-- Fatima Zakir
-Ratings
*YUCK
**WHATEVER
***GOOD
****SUPER
*****AWESOME |
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