“Tropic Thunder” poster with Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and Ben Stiller. Image from Paramount Pictures
This is perhaps the greatest movie about a war movie being made.
Nope, just kidding. This is the best mock behind-the-scenes/making of a war movie composed of excellent actors portraying the dumbest fictitious actors ever.
Buffoonery, mockery, ridiculousness, shamelessness, and absurdity of the things that the onscreen characters of Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Nick Nolte, and even Tom Cruise have found themselves in, in an effort to make a Vietnam-war-level-film, which is more like a bad ‘Rambo’ movie crossed with a rejected plot for ‘Platoon.’
What I love so much about this movie is that it is impeccable in how it portrays the weirdness, excessiveness, and extreme behavior of some of the super-A-List-Actors in Hollywood. It is something else!
I can still remember the time I got to watch ‘Tropic Thunder’ for the very first time at home. And, during that era there was a lot of comedy gold in terms of the quality of movies that were being released. Of course, you got your Will Ferrell movies, you got your Seth Rogen movies, and so on.
But there was ‘Tropic Thunder’ which was quite different from them. For one, it has a very interesting premise; the trailers were super entertaining; they had an all-star cast of actors. I mean, they even have “Iron Man” here. haha..
‘Tropic Thunder’ is the next movie that Robert Downey Jr. did right after the blockbuster success of the first Iron Man movie. And a unique promotional campaign that went with ‘Tropic Thunder’ which got people thinking: What exactly is this movie going to be? The bottom-line, ‘Tropic Thunder’ became an anomaly in itself and that is why to this day people are drawn to it.
Nowadays, there are no comedy movies like this anymore because almost everyone is easily offended, sensitive, and can’t take a joke anymore. Which situation has made studios very selective as to which comedic movies get greenlit to be made. The effect of that is that almost all the modern comedy movies in Hollywood are lackluster, restrained, and censored. Hence, ‘Tropic Thunder’ is catapulted to be a gem of a comedy movie.
Ben Stiller was at his utmost peak as an actor here, and right after this movie, there was no other movie of his that was as funny as this one. I consider ‘Tropic Thunder’ to be a classic in comedy. This is a movie that cannot be considered a slapstick kind of movie, nor is it a parody of any specific war-themed movie alone. It is more of a movie experience for anyone searching for a great time laughing!
Of course, we all know what happens at this time in Hollywood when you offend anyone with power in the Woke Movement in Hollywood, you get “cancelled”. Meaning, you will not be getting any significant movie and television roles. Your career goes down the toilet. Like you never existed, and never mind all the previous movies and shows you have done because one wrong move, you are kaput.
Fortunately, they could not cancel Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise and everyone else who starred in ‘Tropic Thunder’ because these are major stars, the industry needs them, and they have strong public support. And their fans enjoyed ‘Tropic Thunder’ and the roles they were in
However, never again, did any of the aforementioned actors get to star in a movie such as this one because it scared the studios of the backlash it would surely have received from a certain noisy, annoying, and delusional demographic. All of which adds to the rarity, value and uniqueness of ‘Tropic Thunder’ because this said movie became a one-off for these said actors to star in such a hilarious, unpredictable and fun movie.
And that is exactly how I will end this newest entertainment article wherein I go and look back at the movies that have made a mark for reasons I have discussed, enumerated and stated above. Go watch ‘Tropic Thunder’ and please do not feel guilty when you find anything funny in the scenes because that is the objective of this movie. To make the moviegoers laugh, laugh at yourself, and laugh at the things that are funny.
There is nothing wrong with that.