When his movie is behind schedule (after only a few days of filming) and over budget (due to a botched special effects disaster), director Damien Cockburn (Coogan) decides to take drastic measures. With extra pressure from the studio, Damien takes the advice of the writer, Four Leaf Tayback (Nolte) and takes his stars to Vietnam to film a gritty and realistic version of the film, complete with live explosives.
The stars of the film are a action star trying to branch out, a Method actor deep in character, a gross-out comedy actor, a rapper-turned actor, and a somewhat normal actor. Tugg Speedman (Stiller) is the action star who is trying to resusitate his career after his action franchise tanked and his first serious role was a flop. Aussie award winning Method actor Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr.), gets his skin dyed to play an African American, and is deep in character. Jeff Portnoy (Black) is trying to escape his Fatties franchise (similar to Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor 2), with a heroin addiction. Rapper Alpa Chino (Jackson) and Kevin (Baruchel) are just trying to survive the trip. The actors are dropped in a jungle, with cameras all around, to act out the scenes with pyrotechnic help from Cody (McBride) and Tayback. However, they land in the middle of drug country and manage to attract the attention of the local heroin dealers. When Tugg goes off on his own it is up to the actors to save him when the suits back in the states make the situation worse.
Hysterical! The film opens with a commercial for Alpa Chino's merchandise, and the newest films for Tugg, Kirk, and Jeff. Each needs this movie to prove his relevance in pop culture. A true satire of the filmmaking process and the levels of control. Some of the funniest moments come from the studio execs (I won't spoil it for you). I knew who it was prior to the film, but when I watched the film with other people it took them awhile to figure it out. It is funnier when you know who it is and then see him in action. Robert Downey Jr. had some great moments. The rest of the cast was good overall. My one problem, with the cast, was Matthew McConaughey as Tugg's agent. His bits weren't particularly funny, I don't know if it was him or just the part. Otherwise, it was an impressive cast with a funny movie. If they cut down a bit on the swearing I would have enjoyed it more.
Dude, it's quotable: there are some great lines.
Rent it: totally worth it. Downey already had a great comeback with "Iron Man" and this film continues his upward spiral. The rest of the cast delivers the laughs without overdo ing it.
Tropic Thunder (2008) 107 minutes
Rating: R for pervasive language including sexual references, violent content and drug material.
Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Still as Tugg Speedman
Jack Black as Jeff Portnoy
Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus
Nick Nolte as Four Leaf Tayback
Steve Coogan as Damien Cockburn
Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky
Danny R. McBride as Cody
Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino
Bill Hader as Rob
Matthew McConaughey as Rick Peck
The stars of the film are a action star trying to branch out, a Method actor deep in character, a gross-out comedy actor, a rapper-turned actor, and a somewhat normal actor. Tugg Speedman (Stiller) is the action star who is trying to resusitate his career after his action franchise tanked and his first serious role was a flop. Aussie award winning Method actor Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr.), gets his skin dyed to play an African American, and is deep in character. Jeff Portnoy (Black) is trying to escape his Fatties franchise (similar to Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor 2), with a heroin addiction. Rapper Alpa Chino (Jackson) and Kevin (Baruchel) are just trying to survive the trip. The actors are dropped in a jungle, with cameras all around, to act out the scenes with pyrotechnic help from Cody (McBride) and Tayback. However, they land in the middle of drug country and manage to attract the attention of the local heroin dealers. When Tugg goes off on his own it is up to the actors to save him when the suits back in the states make the situation worse.
Hysterical! The film opens with a commercial for Alpa Chino's merchandise, and the newest films for Tugg, Kirk, and Jeff. Each needs this movie to prove his relevance in pop culture. A true satire of the filmmaking process and the levels of control. Some of the funniest moments come from the studio execs (I won't spoil it for you). I knew who it was prior to the film, but when I watched the film with other people it took them awhile to figure it out. It is funnier when you know who it is and then see him in action. Robert Downey Jr. had some great moments. The rest of the cast was good overall. My one problem, with the cast, was Matthew McConaughey as Tugg's agent. His bits weren't particularly funny, I don't know if it was him or just the part. Otherwise, it was an impressive cast with a funny movie. If they cut down a bit on the swearing I would have enjoyed it more.
Dude, it's quotable: there are some great lines.
Rent it: totally worth it. Downey already had a great comeback with "Iron Man" and this film continues his upward spiral. The rest of the cast delivers the laughs without overdo ing it.
Tropic Thunder (2008) 107 minutes
Rating: R for pervasive language including sexual references, violent content and drug material.
Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Still as Tugg Speedman
Jack Black as Jeff Portnoy
Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus
Nick Nolte as Four Leaf Tayback
Steve Coogan as Damien Cockburn
Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky
Danny R. McBride as Cody
Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino
Bill Hader as Rob
Matthew McConaughey as Rick Peck
Your blog is marvelous :O
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed it, I'm rather a movies fan /o/
( you problably won't understand my profile and my blog, I'm brasilian so it's all written in portuguese rs )
however, I could understand every word you wrote, and let me tell you, you're really doing a nice job
:)
well, that's a good point in speaking portuguese, you can easily understand french, spanish and even english. Actually, I've decided to catalogue all the movies that I own or watch...
ReplyDeleteI see that we have something in common, we like frankenstein...
I studied mary shelley at school and I loved it !
Let me see, at frankenstein review I talked about the marvelous make-up, the unusual robert de niro caracterization... That somehow it remind me Tim burton, because of helena bonham carter, and the scenarios and clothing...
hey, do you have messenger ?
I don't know if we use the same messenger but you can add me anyway, I'd love to discuss about movies with a a "differente" watcher haha
here, try adding me:
royal.xd@hotmail.com