MOVIE: Tropic Thunder

By Mark Arehart

Thursday, August 21, 2008

With looks like Platoon, laughs like Anchorman, and a strong cast led by Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder delivers like no other comedy out this year.

The opening scene rolls into a movie shoot full of missed explosions and actors butting heads. Sharing the title of Tropic Thunder, the Vietnam-era movie within the movie is in the hands of rookie director Damien Cockburn, played with prima donna angst by Steve Coogan.

At the suggestion of a crazy military advisor—played with maniacal enthusiasm by Nick Nolte—the shoot moves into the Vietnamese jungle.

The crew is dropped off in the camera-rigged jungle, and they mistake the drug-running inhabitants with real machine guns for paid actors. The blood, guts, and laughs continue as the actors slowly start to realize the danger they’ve found themselves in.

Ben Stiller, who also directed the movie, plays down-and-out action star Tug Speedman, who is trying to revive his career. Jack Black, comedian Jeff Portnoy, and newcomer Brandon T. Jackson round out the cast.

The gem of the movie is Robert Downey Jr. and his character Kirk Lazarus, a white Australian Oscar-winner who plays a black soldier. His performances as both Kirk and Kirk playing the black character Link produce one of the funniest characters in recent movie history.

Tropic Thunder is not nice or in any way appropriate. It is a bloody comedy that will surprise you every step of the way. Make sure and get there for the opening “previews,” and to keep an open mind throughout this movie that loves making fun of itself.

Tropic Thunder gets three of four stars.

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