The Tiger

Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: TimeOut

Hollywood stars do not deliberately try to make fools of themselves. Their careers depend on their images; credibility as an artist is of the utmost importance to the actor. "Tropic Thunder" took that paradigm, chewed it up, squeezed it out the other end and flushed it out like yesterday's business.
In fact, the only laughs that the Ben Stiller-directed comedy inspires are from its stars and their brave decision to make themselves utterly ridiculous. Tom Cruise plays Les Grossman, a stocky, bald, hairy-chested, pit-stained film mogul. Grossman delivers such classic lines as "Take a big step back and literally f**k your own face!" and shamelessly dances solo to Flo Rida's "Low." This is Tom Cruise, the man who dropped panties as Maverick and Ethan Hunt and who now raises eyebrows for his foray into scientology and numerous awkward interviews, chest-pumping as a bald Jewish guy to Flo Rida. Unbelievable.
But the Oscar goes to… Robert Downey, Jr. No, seriously. For his performance in "Tropic Thunder" Downey deserves such an honor. Of course, the Academy does not recognize comedy as a legitimate art form, but anyone who witnesses Downey's performance as both an emotional Australian and a wild black man will know it is a tour de force. No matter the genre, portraying a man of another nationality portraying another man of a different race entirely as Downey did in "Tropic Thunder" is incredible.
Then there are Ben Stiller and Jack Black whose specialty is self-deprecation. Stiller has become type-cast (by himself, no less) as a really in-shape guy who makes a fool of himself in his profession (i.e. "Zoolander" and "Dodge Ball"). Stiller reprises the character type as Tugg Speedman, a witless, talentless big-budget action star. Jack Black is a goofy fat guy who plays a goofy fat guy - surprise! As "Fats," Black gets stripped to his tightie-whities, tied to a tree and offers oral pleasure to be untied: "I'll cradle the balls, stroke the shaft and cradle the balls." Hilarious, yes. Respectable, no.
Finally, Matthew McConaughey is thrown into the mix. While his character as the agent for Tugg Speedman is the least demented of the five, he is nonetheless guilty by association.
Just as this group of stars brilliantly parody themselves, "Tropic Thunder" is a brilliant parody of other extravagant films and of Hollywood as a whole. Forgoing subtlety, Stiller makes tongue-in-cheek allusions to "Rambo," "Saving Private Ryan" and "Platoon," as well as sharp jabs at the film business; Grossman is, as the financier of the fictional "Tropic Thunder," motivated solely by money; all of the film's actors are pampered, loud-mouth prima donnas; and each fictional actor represents a Hollywood-forced character type.
As a comedy and a satire, "Tropic Thunder" will win no awards, which is a shame considering it contains Tom Cruise and Robert Downey, Jr.'s best performances. However, the film does document what is likely to be the only time you'll see Cruise dance to Flo Rida and Downey pretend to be a black man, and for that alone "Tropic Thunder" is an undeniable comedy classic.

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