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Stiller, Downey Jnr and Black go Commando! |
Going gunning for the bigshots of Hollywood
TROPIC THUNDER
Directed by Ben Stiller
Certificate 12a
BEN Stiller comedies are cinematic custard pies. They rely on a rather standard ?Going gunning for the bigshots of Hollywood
repertoire of jokes.
Tropic Thunder, a spoof Hollywood action movie, does what it says on the tin and if you like Stiller’s usual fare then this will not disappoint.
I was not a fan of his previous efforts like Zoolander, and frankly Stiller’s eye for a joke does not tally with mine. But the cast he has pulled together here is chocker with people who know what they are up to, and it makes passages that you shouldn’t find entertaining rather good: the director is joined by Robert Downey Jnr, Jack Black, Nick Nolte and Steve Coogan.
The tale goes like this: Tugg Speedman (Stiller) Jeff Portnoy (Black) and Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jnr) are the three Hollywood stars who are working on an action flick in the guise of such 1980s blockbusters as Commando. But little do they know that the film is running out of cash and the director, played by Steve Coogan, and Vietnam vet Nick Nolte, whose memoirs the story is based on, decide the only way to get the damn thing finished is to take our crack team of A-listers into the real jungle, populated by a host of real Vietnamese drug-running baddies who do, er, bad things to those who disturb their jungle idyll.
It’s all very easy to imagine what happens next. We’ve seen it before in the infinitely funnier Steve Martin vehicle, The Three Amigos.
The principal targets – big ego’d Hollywood types – are neither clever nor original. There are plenty of uneasy moments. Downey’s ubiquitous ’Nam war movie sergeant, who has been turned into a black man by surgery, apparently, provides the worst elements. However, Tom Cruise’s brief appearance as the studio boss was obviously cast and played with relish.
The cast jolly things along as quickly as possible, but frankly not quick enough. |
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