Movie: Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder came highly recommended to me by my sister. Sean and I caught a Sunday afternoon showing in Culver City. The place was packed and, for a comedy like this one, that allowed for some amusing crowd reactions.

It has been hard to miss the recent calls to boycott this movie, as it is rather offensive to a number of people groups. I ignored those because I usually ignore that stuff. In fact, for most people, don't those people just make you want to see a movie to find out what the fuss is about? Anyway, I suppose I could see what they were offended by, but I wasn't. In fact, wasn't this the point of the movie?

Ben Stiller played Tugg Speedman, the washed up action star that is taking steps to prove himself as an actor. He was perfect as Tugg, but the character was not my favorite in the movie. In my opinion, it was Robert Downey, Jr, (of course!), playing Oscar-winning actor Kirk Lazarus, who was then playing African-American war vet Lincoln Osirus. Jay Baruchel was very likable as the most normal-seeming character in the entire cast. Jack Black's character was so over the top, and his portrayal of a person going through heroine withdrawal may not have been all that accurate (OK, who am I to know? I haven't witnessed it or experienced it myself... I wonder if you DO want to wear an animal stomach?), it was still amusing.

Ben Stiller co-wrote this with Justin Theroux. I was only familiar with him from his stint on Six Feet Under. The script makes this movie. Yes, the actors truly pull it off, but if it weren't for the ridiculous poke-fun-at-Hollywood storyline, and raunchy and seemingly off-the-cuff one-liners, this film just wouldn't be as funny as it was.

It was one of those movies where you bring up specific lines later in conversation, and then giggle about them like a child. If you are going to see this, be prepared for offensive ___, not just about race or persons with disabilities, but just raunchy talk. But I still found myself laughing out loud. A LOT.