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Tropic Thunder

The cybermonkey in me likes the "decapitated head joke" side, while the kid in me likes the "Fart joke" side!
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Nick Nolte
Rating: 7/10
Directed By: Ben Stiller
Runtime: 107 minutes

Damn, I said I wasn't going to do any more reviews of big budget mainstream films anymore, I even skipped doing a review of The Dark Knight, because lets face it, you're bombarded with news about those films every day, you don't need me to tell you what you already know, and I don't want to waste my time. But after sitting through a screening of Tropic Thunder, I felt like I had to write something, because this movie is a whole lot better than I expected it to be.

I had seriously low expectations for the movie. Ben Stiller is fairly hit or miss with me, and something about this movie just struck me as "meh". The one redeeming factor that made me want to go? Robert Downey Jr., taking a walk on the edge playing an actor so dedicated to his craft that he undergoes a skin-darkening operation to play an African American soldier . . . and of course insists on staying in the role 24/7 until he cashes his first residual check. You just know that Downey is going to swing for the fences and either knock it out of the park or he's gonna foul it right into the catchers glove, but either way he's swinging for all he's worth. And his recent track record is good, especially when it's an edgy film (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang being my favorite recent example). Throw in Jack Black, works with hit or miss material but either way is usually fun to watch . . . the man can make a train wreck funny. Throw in talk of a twisted cameo by one of my least favorite actors (everyone's favorite Operating Thetan, Tom Cruise) . . . I had to go.

Not only did the movie not disappoint, it far exceeded and expectations I had. Downey is the fucking man! It's well worth going to this just to watch him run with this role. He might not knock it out of the park, but he puts his head down, runs like hell, and steals home for an inside the park HR . . . slyly pulling off an Apocalypse Now! reference every once in awhile. Not a big suprise, but Nolte also shines in his role, with a performance that possibly could only have been eclipsed by Gary Busey (maybe they should let me cast movies).

Rest assured, the movie is funny, and most of it is "your-average-jackoff-on-the-street" funny, but there's also an an ample amount of twisted wierdness (Ben Stiller playing with the director's decapitated head) to satisy the budding cybermonkey in you . . . AND childish fart jokes courtesy of Jaybles!


We were promised a twisted Tom Cruise cameo, and twisted it is. Xemu himself would laugh at Cruise in a hairy chested fat suit, smoking cigars and cursing at the top of his lungs in what is now my third favorite Cruise performance ever (second of course being Tom as "Frank T.J. Mackey" in Magnolia and first being Tom as "Tom Cruise, Scientologist" in the leaked Scientology recruitment video).


And there you have it . . . a movie I was reluctant to see turns out to be pretty damn good. If you're on the fence about this one, give it a shot and you probably won't be disappointed. It's not a classic that you'll be quoting for years to come . . . but it's damn funny and a good time out . . . and it offers up perhaps the finiest advice I've ever heard . . . "You never go full retard".



Here's the trailer your Momma didn't want you to see (full Red Band): (NOTE: They keep pulling this trailer, we'll try it again, but no promises how long it will be available)






and a bonus for looking this far down . . . until it's pulled by order of Helen Kobrin . . . the Tom Cruise Scientology Recruitment video!





It's ok to laugh at things other people believe in, as long as you're willing to laugh at things YOU believe in too! So sayeth Magnificent Bastard . . .