Friday, October 23, 2009

Movie Review - Tropic Thunder

Movie - Tropic Thunder
Director - Ben Stiller
Cast - Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Tom Cruise

Flashback to 2008 : There was this 2008 Bollywood release called Luck By Chance. It was probably one of the best directorial debuts I've seen in recent years. The movie was a stark exhibition of Bollywood & its internal dynamics. However, I had one small complaint with the presentation of the movie - although it tried to indulge in self-depreciating humour, it failed at that since the tone of the movie was so "in your face" dark.

Cut to early 2009 : Ben Stiller is to hollywood today what Govinda was to bollywood a decade ago...and some more. What I mean is that 10 years ago, I would have walked into a Govinda movie without any qualms since I knew that there would definitely be entertainment of the "leave your brain home" kind in the movie. Same goes for Stiller today.

I had first seen a poster of Tropic Thunder a few months ago - Robert Downey Jr. wielding a gun in an exaggerated pose. And my first thought was that its a war movie. But there was also this nagging feeling at the back of my head - Why on earth would Ben Stiller make a war movie? And what would he make of it? The feeling lingered for a while and then slowly died off, placing Tropic Thunder on a mental back burner while I moved base from Goa to Mumbai and jumped straight into the grind of dreary commutes and an uninspiring workplace.

Cut to present : Finally watched the movie yesterday. And trust me, I'm simply unable to control those occasional spurts of laughter even now. My colleague sharing my cabin must be wondering what I've smoked today. Tropic thunder was not a war movie...almost. And Stiller, true to reputation, didn't disappoint.

So, we have three movie stars with distinct on-screen & off-screen personalities. We have the multiple Oscar winning Aussie perfectionist Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr.), the superhero typecast Tugg Speedman (Stiller) and the king of cheesy comedies Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black). Add to that a newcomer actor Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) and a crazy rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and we have the cast for the greatest ever war movie. So far so good. But then, Murphy's law strikes...and things spiral out of control. The rest of the film is a roller-coaster ride full of pee-inducing slapstick and some subtle, some not so subtle references to notable Hollywood personalities.

Now, the reason why I referred to Luck By Chance. The point where I feel LBC failed is where Tropic Thunder comes out tops. It makes similar scathing comments at the prevalent system in Hollywood but it does so with an extremely endearing comic panache. I'm sure Russell Crowe & Harvey Wienstien must've cringed at the way they were parodied by Downey Jr. & Tom Cruise respectively.

The performances in the movie are all standouts. Be it Stiller as the actor unable to break the shackles of his onscreen image; Downey Jr. with his arrogant swagger; Jack Black as the heroin addict going through withdrawal and above all, Tom Cruise in his cameo as the ruthless studio head. In fact, this has to be one of Cruise' best ever performances.

Another thing that really works for Tropic Thunder is that it can touch a chord with any kind of audience. For a layperson, it's one of the best comedies to have come out of Hollywood in recent years. For the movie buff, it's a treasure trove of references. For the discerning viewer, it's a tongue in cheek comment on how self-defeating the Hollywood system can become.

Too bad that I couldn't watch this on the big screen. Would've been awesome. However, I can always watch it on some projector somewhere whenever I get a chance. This is one movie I wouldn't mind watching any number of times.

Warning : This is not for the weak-hearted or the sensitive kinds. Can offend you to the point of suicide and/or murder.

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