Tropic Thunder is mindless fun
August 23, 2008After spending two days focused on writing code for a project at work, I needed some mindless entertainment last night. Which is exactly what I found when I went to see Tropic Thunder.
The disability advocates who protested this movie have a point. It gets pretty close to going over the line with the repeated use of the “retard” word. And despite how the studio tried to portray it, the “retard” subplot is not minor — it’s a fairly significant part of the film. And it winds up being the motivation for significant plot points such as why the Ben Stiller character decides to stay in Vietnam, albeit briefly.
Still I thought it was also clear that the movie used this subplot to poke fun at the Hollywood actors who take themselves so seriously. It was satire, though it veered dangerously close to going over the line. But I thought on balance they did not go over the line.
The highlight of the movie for me was Robert Downey Jr’s performance as a “method” actor who is so deep into character that he cannot get out of character even though he knows everybody’s life is in real danger. That’s right, he’s an actor playing an actor who is way too deep in character to know what his own personality is. His stuff was the most consistently funny bits of the movie.
The other performance worth watching was a heavily made-up Tom Cruise. So much makeup he was essentially unrecognizeable. He plays a stereotypical Hollywood producer, chewing up the scenery whenever he’s on screen. I’ve been uncomfortable watching Cruise lately, given all the weirdness around his personal life. But this was a great performance for him, a showcase that he really is a pretty good actor. If he could just lay off all the over-the-top religious stuff he’d be okay.
This wasn’t a brilliant comedy. It’s definitely not the kind of thing I’d see again, so I won’t be buying the DVD when it comes out. But as mindless diversion it was entertaining. I laughed for most of the movie, and walked out of it with a smile. Not bad for my $9.