Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey, Jr.)
directed by Ben Stiller
starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black
They say to write what you know. Ben Stiller has proved that this makes for good comedy in a movie about the making of a movie - but this fictional nightmare for Hollywood translates into a scathing, hilarious commentary on all levels of production.
Acting tropes are front and center, and no one nails their stereotype better than Robert Downey Jr. He steals the movie as Kirk Lazarus, blonde-haired-Australian-turned-black-Sergeant via a controversial procedure - but this is standard procedure for his hyper-dedicated method-actor Lazarus, who claims to never break character "'til I done the DVD commentary." It is from this same fountain of brilliance that we get what is perhaps the movie's best moment: the "never go full retard" speech. (It was certainly the most talked about, and one of the more controversial - which is just stupid. The scene hardly used the word, it wasn't in a particularly derogatory way, and they were roasting they way Hollywood treats the issue, not mental retardation itself.) Hollywood politics and dishonest acting are hit hard as Ben Stiller's character laments the failure of his attempted Oscar Bait.
Despite the focus on the main three actors, the other two personalities prove just as entertaining and well-delivered. In addition, the film benefits from a plethora of cameos and supporting appearances. Tom Cruise, Steve Coogan, Bill Hader, and Matthew McConaughey all bring memorable performances as producers, directors, agents, and more.
It's hard to tell which is the more ridiculous film - this one, or the one the fictional actors are trying to make. But Tropic Thunder remains self-aware of the ridiculous, and it is there that the comedy succeeds. There's always something cool about watching movies about movies; hopefully, they had just as much fun satirizing themselves as we do laughing at them.
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