DVD Review: Tropic Thunder
Ben Stiller's Hollywood Satire Takes on the War Film Genre
Hollywood loves movies about itself almost as much as journalists like writing about themselves. Films about show business are as old as the movies themselves, but every once in a while a Hollywood parody comes along that redefines the genre.
Director Ben Stiller’s summer hit Tropic Thunder is not one of those films. Yes, it’s wittier than the Frat Pack films he usually makes, and pays homage to some of the classics in the American film pantheon, but it’s not as sharp a satire as The Player or as sweet a comedy as, say, Singin’ in the Rain. But what it does boast is some truly excellent DVD extras.
Tropic Thunder: The Plot
Tropic Thunder stars Stiller as Tugg Speedman, a Stallone-style action hero whose movies are doing less well than in his heyday. To boost his industry cred, he gets involved in a big-budget Vietnam war pic starring Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black as a cross between a white Eddie Murphy and a Chris Farrell analogue) and five-time Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr., as an obvious Russell Crowe clone). At the behest of the film’s military creative consultant Four Leaf (Nick Nolte), the director (Steve Coogan) drops his stars in the jungle to fend for themselves, in a kind of Blair Witch meets Apocalypse Now scenario that’s meant to get “real” performances out of them. But after a bizarre accident, the actors are left to scrounge for themselves.
Tropic Thunder pays homage to a number of Vietnam war films, particularly Apocalypse Now and Platoon, and features a daring (and Oscar-nominated) performance by Downey, who spends most of the film in blackface. Lazarus is such a devotee of the Method that he undergoes skin pigmentation surgery to play an African American, and spends the whole time in the jungle in character. As he says: “I don’t break character until I do the DVD commentary.”
Tropic Thunder’s DVD Extras Funnier than the Film Itself
Which is where the genius of the DVD kicks in. Because, watching Tropic Thunder with the commentary track playing, you’ll hear Downey in character as Osiris, the character his character, Lazarus, plays in the film within the film. Except for the brief period where he speaks with an Australian accent. And the even briefer period where he speaks as himself.
Downey is an immensely gifted actor and passes that gift along to the film’s fans, but the fun doesn’t stop there. Director Stiller has provided what he calls “Full Mags”: uncut film clips where the stars just improvise (a scene with Black tied to a tree is particularly hilarious). Best of all, there’s a skit the three shot for the MTV Movie Awards: a “viral” video to promote the film where Black, in a Kung Fu Panda mask, gets repeatedly kicked in the groin, and Stiller makes dark fun of Downey’s colourful past. It’s funnier than anything in the film.
Stiller’s directorial efforts have wandered all over several styles, from the touching 90s dramedy Reality Bites to the Jim Carrey vehicle Cable Guy to the one-joke idiocy of Zoolander. While he’ll never be accused of being a trailblazer, he certainly can follow the zeitgeist; all of his films are extremely of-their-time. But in Tropic Thunder he may have found his niche: a comedy that pokes fun at the world he knows best. Too bad it’s not quite as funny as its unscripted extras.
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