Inside Hollywood Jokes Kill Tropic Thunder

From time to time, Hollywood loves to make movies about itself.

It's a place so insular and self-centered that it's convinced that everyone else on the planet is as enraptured as they are about themselves and the going-ons behind the scenes. That is the central theme behind the new rambunctious, and very hit-or-miss comedy Tropic Thunder.

It's an occasionally funny comedy that actually isn't nearly as funny or as clever as it thinks it is. It's mainly aimed for people who like to delude themselves that they're "in the know" about the movie business although most of the really savage satire would sail right over their heads without them having a clue.

Marking his return to the director's seat since his unfunny Zoolander and the underrated and dangerously subversive The Cable Guy, Ben Stiller plays a fading action movie star who is working on a big budget Hollywood action flick about the Vietnam War, that is being shot on location in Vietnam, alongside fellow actors Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson. Jackson plays a rapper with the name of Alpa Chino (say it loud to yourself), who is acting in his first film.

However it's obvious from the very start that the film's clueless, stressed out, neophyte Brit director (Coogan) is in way over his head and the film quickly winds up over budget and way behind schedule, incurring the anger of the film's extremely foul mouthed, hyper-aggressive producer (Tom Cruise wearing a bald wig, scraggly beard, fat gut and profuse chest hair).

Desperate to save the film, and more importantly his career, Coogan gets rid of most of the film crew and comes up with the insane idea of dropping his actors in the middle of nowhere in the jungle to make a low budget, guerilla style movie with hidden video cameras placed all around as they struggle to make it out on their own.

Of course there wouldn't be much of plot of things didn't quickly go from bad to worse, (as it does) and the actors find themselves tangling with dangerous real drug dealing guerillas led by a 12-year-old kid (Soo Hoo), though the actors are too imbecilic and self-centered to realize that they're not making a film anymore and their situation is for real.

Though Thunder definitely has its genuinely funny moments especially due to Jack Black, who while relegated mainly to the background at first eventually comes into his own with some hilarious crazed behavior and rudely twisted lines, the film suffers badly from a lumpy pace with its uneven storyline and too many scenes of people screaming at each other for no apparent reason.

It's also dragged down by one too many inside jokes about the business that are not even that funny for those who gets who's being spoofed such as McConaughey's manic part inspired by real life super agent Ari Emanuel, Coogan's take on the real British film director Sam Mendes (Jarhead) and especially Cruise's character who's a blatant mockery of legendary producer Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men) who's famous in the business for his volcanic temper and tyrannical behavior.

However, no doubt most of the attention will center around Robert Downey's Kirk Lazarus, a Russell Crowe type known for his intensity and hard drinking behavior who's so dedicated to his craft that to play a black man in the film he undergoes cosmetic surgery to look black to play the part. Of course the concept is intentionally outrageous and decidedly non-PC with the image of a white guy in modern day blackface to illustrate how ridiculous Lazarus is, especially in his awkward and embarrassing attempts to portray a black man.

And besides, since it's the current "Mr. Cool of Hollywood" Iron Man himself, so how bad could it be? But when it gets down to the basic core of the idea, the fact of the matter is that blackface is still blackface regardless.

Another problem as well with the basic concept it that doesn't make sense either. Although the film is a comedy and a satire of the film business, why would a producer and director in the film hire a white guy to play the part of the black guy? Wouldn't it have made more sense to have a black actor spoofing another established, serious black actor such as Forest Whitaker or Denzel Washington?

Things are not helped either with Jackson's rapper character (who's the only black person in the entire film) basically playing a character that is barely a step above Flava Flav. If Lazarus' character was conceived as an attack on the image of blacks in cinema, then neither him nor Jackson's character help in any way. And, in this new age of Obama, the whole thing falls flat.

After everything is taken in, what we have left with Tropic Thunder is a film that could have been a whole a lot sharper and better. There are truly funny and outrageous moments, but unfortunately, the film becomes sluggish as it repeats itself again and again to an increasingly lesser effect.

Perhaps if the filmmakers had stopped gazing into the mirror a tad less often and weren't as convinced that they were so much more clever than the audience, Tropic Thunder might have been a better film.

Comments

[lakat]

While Tropic Thunder has its faults, those you wrote about aren't among them. To me, Ben Stiller is not funny but I tolerated him to see the others be hilarious. Although, my first out loud laugh was Stiller, in scene, holding up his octopus hands while trying to out-overact Robert Downey, Jr. in the "You are my brother" scene. I didn't laugh out loud at the Tom Cruise character but I couldn't take my eyes off him either, good job!

Love love love Robert Downey, Jr. he was not clownish, as would have been almost anyone else. Jack Black, very funny! Jackson, awesome.


May I say that I saw some people bringing children in and not walking out! Totally not a PG13 movie, folks!

Conclusion: Inside jokes did not ruin the comedic fun of this movie. Enjoy.

By the way, those people who say they are tired of everything having to be PC and "we should laugh at ourselves" are usually people at whom racial or ethnic (or any minority of any kind) jokes are not directed. Unless you are a minority member, you don't get to say what is offensive to that minority. Laugh at YOURSELF, for a change.

[gymbunnybee]

I could not agree more! None of the industry jokes were too 'inside' for us not to get. We got them and they were spot on.

Mims tries to hard to find an inside cleverness to the film - but in reality it was just a funny movie with excellent actors and brilliant cameos, showing industry stereotypes to great effect.

I saw parents bringing kids under 10! I was pretty shocked - however we probably see scarier things on the evening news on a daily basis.

[pencilpusher]

My adult son and I saw the movie on opening night. I remarked to him after that it was the first time in a LONG time that I have heard the audience laughing out loud. It was inane, but very funny. Downey Jr. was absolutely hilarious, and the Jackson character as counterpoint was too. All of the characters were well done in their own way.

Apparently I didn't get any of the Hollywood references you mentioned. I had no idea until I read your column who any of the spoofed Hollywood people were. And after you told us, I never heard of ANY of them. It didn't matter. I took them in stride as Hollywood stereotypes and they were very funny. I think you tried too hard to show us you are a Hollywood insider, and forgot to look at the movie as a comedy. The movie hit its mark; your column missed.

[amamomofsons]

I gotta tell you that my family and I attended the movie over the weekend and we haven't laughed like that in a long long time. It was a riot!!!!! Thank you Ben. I think it is refreshing to junk all the PC stuff and just laugh at ourselves sometimes. The lead in was designed to explain to the audience the "issues" that each cast member brought to the film and the humor....although not sophisticated......was really funny.
RD jr. was amazing!! I can't really understand why Mr. Mims didn't get it..... we all "got it". Of course we all loved the Monty Python group as well. LOL! LOL! My only concern is that we all understood the many references to other productions, but a younger person may not know who, for instance, Chicken George is. Funny Funny Funny!!!

[Thembi]

I had a totally different take on this.

I find most Ben Stiller movies hilarious but this one was just ok, so we differ there. But while the insider jokes were rampant, the joke was really in the characters themselves, not in personal attacks against specific people. Inthat sense, maybe the insider jokes ruined the movie for someone like you who gets them. While I know more than Id rather know about Scott Rudin and caught that Cruise was based on his craziness, the character was so individuated that he stood on his own, just like the others. In spite of this, I dont think Tropic Thunder reached that lowbrow high (or is it low) that would make it 'hilarious'. The blackface thing, while laborious to look at, was just more of that same moderately amusing schtick.

[Ides]

Kirk Lazarus could have transformed himself into anything. Meta black face is probably the least offensive I can think of (as a black man).

I got the inside hollywood jokes without having to actually know who was being made fun of. That's the height of good satire, the fact that it can take familiar themes without being too specific. (And this is what made ZAZ so good as a triumvirate...before they split and the last Zucker standing started crapping out Scary Movie sequels).

[parkerfly38]

Seriously, dude. My wife and I saw the film, and laughed our arses off. If the Tom Cruise/Rudin homage/satire fell flat it was because it just wasn't funny, but it was rounded out by any number of other moments that required little "insider" knowledge of Hollywood.

I think part of what helped us enjoy the film is that we went in with far fewer expectations of it, other than that we wanted to laugh. I encourage anyone else to do the same. It's an assured good time.

[tasukibeth1]

Pretty judgemental article from a guy who says Zoolander is "unfunny" and The Cable Guy is "subversive" and "underrated".

[tasukibeth1]

I will elaborate.

The fact that Kirk Lazarus is in blackface is funny because even though he is a method actor, he clearly knows nothing about the black experience. Lazarus talks in fake jive and quotes from the Jeffersons " not because he is a racist, but because he"s ignorant " a fact pointed out to him repeatedly by Jackson's rapper character. The irony is that Jackson's character is really the most underestimated actor on the set. Along with being an actor / rapper, he is a successful entrepreneur. He is also the voice of the audience, justifiably angry that the "good part" went to a white man.

Why didn't they hire a Forest Whittaker-type? Because the movie is *spoofing* the fact that Kirk Lazarus is a five-time award winner, and ostensibly, this role can offer him another award. He is the Russell Crowe (good observation, btw) of the Tropic Thunder world, taking any part no matter how ridiculous and milking the sh** out. And yes, it is a commentary on the fact that Hollywood is often too eager to give colored roles to white people (Angelina Jolie playing Mariane Pearl comes to mind).

Finally...you wonder why the director hires a white guy to play a black role...it's exactly the same as asking "Why didn't Katherine Heigl just get an abortion?" Because if she did, the movie would be over in 5 minutes. If Forest Whittaker played the Kirk Lazarus part, it wouldn't be a comedy.

[superlive]

What Mims meant was that Lazarus should have been played by some white actor before the skin-darkening procedure, then played by a real-life black actor after the procedure.

[majormoderate]

ok zoolander was hilarious and anyone that says differently has no sense of humor. i stopped reading your blog after that line.

[thereigoagain]

The movie is hilarious.

[jaycbird]

"Another problem as well with the basic concept it that doesn't make sense either. Although the film is a comedy and a satire of the film business, why would a producer and director in the film hire a white guy to play the part of the black guy?"

You should ask why they hired Anthony Hopkins for "THE HUMAN STAIN"... or "WORLDS FASTEST INDIAN"? Or Alec Guiness in half the roles he played...

[wizinit]

And maybe, just maybe, because Downey put in a brilliant performance. Sergio Mims might have noticed if he hadn't been so preoccupied with finding faults to criticize the movie.

It was actually very funny, and I would urge readers to ignore this "review", its insiders critique of insiders in the movie industry, and go and laugh out loud.

[BlackJAC]

Author/critic Hallie Ephron (sister of Nora) once said that bad reviews are more about the reviewer than the work being reviewed.

[BlackJAC]

Along with how the entire cast of THE GOOD EARTH were white people in Asian character makeup, with Joel Grey doing the same in REMO WILLIAMS: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS. Eddie Murphy played the old white guy at the barbershop in COMING TO AMERICA. And the daughter in George Lopez's sitcom was Albanian rather than Latina.

[jvarga]

"Another problem as well with the basic concept it that doesn't make sense either. Although the film is a comedy and a satire of the film business, why would a producer and director in the film hire a white guy to play the part of the black guy?"

Because it's a satire of the film business?