Genre - Action/Comedy
Year Released - 2008
Running Time - 120 minutes
Directed by Ben Stiller (who also directed The Cable Guy & Zoolander)
Written by Ben Stiller (who also wrote Zoolander) and Justin Theroux (who is writing the screenplay for Iron Man 2)
Cast Includes:
Ben Stiller (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, There's Something About Mary, Night at the Museum - as well as next year's sequel to it)
Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Iron Man 2 - coming in 2010, and The Avengers - coming in 2011)
Jack Black (The School of Rock, Nacho Libre, and Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny)
Brandon Jackson (who is also in the upcoming Re-make of The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Jay Baruchel (who is also in Knocked Up)
Also:
Tom Cruise - as the film's (within the film) Producer
Matthew McConaughey - as Ben Stiller's character's Agent
Nick Nolte - as the Sgt. whose story the film (within the film) is based upon
Steve Coogan - as the film's (within the film) Director
Danny McBride - as the film's (within the film) Demolition Expert
Rating: 3 Skulls
Plot Summary:
Drawing inspiration from films like Apocalypse Now and Platoon, this war movie send-up, from director and star Ben Stiller, follows a group of dimwitted actors forced to become real-life soldiers when they're abandoned in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
Review:The film starts off with some pretty funny bogus trailers, starring each of the actor's (portraying the actor's in this film) other films - the funniest probably being Tugg Speedman's (Ben Stiller) Scorcher VI.
After the trailers, the movie begins - narrated by Sgt. Four Leaf (Nick Nolte) - we are told of his escapades in Vietnam, now being made into a film - that film is Tropic Thunder. . .
This movie is not near as funny as I was expecting, though it did have its moments, one of which was after Steve Coogan's - portraying the film's director - big speech! Another was the discussion between Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) and Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) about not going full-retard, when portraying someone who is mentally challenged. Also, was the moment when Tugg was in the cave, watching an episode of Star Trek, on his iPod - what happened afterwards - too funny!
In my opinion, Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise stole the show. If it wasn't for their characters, this movie wouldn't have even been half as good!
Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus
Tom Cruise as Producer Les GrossmanSpeaking of Language - if that bothers you, this movie has a ton of it, just so you are aware. . .
Posts
6 comments:
sorry i have to disagree with you on this one bro.
i saw both movies in theatre and i thought thunder killed the zohan. zohan was okay i guess but thunder had a lot more comedic muscle behind it.
stiller as simple jack chasing a butterfly down a hill with a hammer, black detoxing in the jungle, downey's character aping method acting to the 9th degree, coogan's sudden demise and the gross and hysterical stuff that happened directly after that, the booty juice and bust a nut energy bars ad, the fatties, toby maguire's cameo, nolte, the kid stabbing stiller in the neck and then getting thrown off the bridge, and cruise in a star saving turn as a hairy fat foul mouthed agent. and on and on.
both movies weren't perfect but i thought thunder had waaaay more belly laughs and 'i can't believe they went there moments." but that's just me.
A most-excellent comment evil! :-)
I have no problem with folks disagreeing with me (to each his own, right?)
First, I just have to say that Comedy is not really one of my most favorite genres, so I may be way off when it comes to humorous movies.
The reason that I said Zohan was better was because I, personally, laughed way more in that movie than I did in this one - again, that's just me ~ my wife did not think it near as funny as I did!
As for this one, the parts that I stated in my review (Coogan's sudden demise - and afterwards, as well as Tugg in the cave) those parts I laughed out loud at!
The other stuff just got old, fast, to me...
Though every time Cruise was in a scene I was definitely laughing out loud - he made the movie!
On a side note: Even though Stiller didn't direct it, I LOVED Dodgeball - to me, that is one of my favorite comedies, so that may say something about my tatse ;-)
Thanks for the Comment!
J
to each his own. agreed. my comedy barometer might have got the better of me there for a sec.
if a comedy comes out these days and i belly laugh or snort at least twice then i consider it pretty good. plus i saw it in the theatre and was surrounded by a bunch of hecklers probably helped it.
dodge ball is a good one though. every time it's on cable i have to leave it on and watch the rest of it. people getting hit with wrenches never gets old. another one i can watch and rewatch is caddyshack.
Yeah, I agree that a funny movie is even funnier when surrounded by others of a like mind!
I haven't watched Caddyshack in YEARS. . . I will have to re-watch that one!
J
Tom Cruise was surprisingly the funniest too me, I say 'surprisingly' because most of the time I think he's a big tool.
I would have to say that my favorite comedy this year is a tie between 'Charlie Bartlet' and 'Step Brothers.'
Yeah, Cruise was a definite surprise!
Step Brothers just happens to be at the top of my Netflix Queue (comes out on DVD on Dec. 2nd)
Glad to hear that it is going to be funny! :-)
I am not familiar with Charlie Bartlett ~ I'll have to look into that one ~ Thanks JR!
J
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