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August 1, 2008

Under the Peg - Saner Men Would Need Therapy

Take a bunch of actors, have them act as a bunch of actors, who are acting as soldiers in a fake war. Just for kicks, let's have them think they're filming a movie while they are being shot at by real live hostiles using real live ammo and explosives. It's a painful idea if you think about it too hard, but it's a non-stop thrill ride of collateral damage and carnage in the new movie Tropic Thunder.

It starts with a series of fake trailers to introduce you to four of our main characters. There's the action star, Jugg Speedman (Ben Stiller); the overly dramatic actor, Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.); the low-brow comedian, Jeff "Fats" Portnoy (Jack Black); and the sex-crazy rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T Jackson). After we see the Dreamworks logo, the movie fades to black, and screen text informss us about a mission in 1969 into Vietnam to attempt to rescue a captured soldier named Four-Leaf (Nick Nolte).

Of the ten men who went on the mission, four came back. Of the four who returned, only three wrote books. Of the three books, only two were published. Of the two publications, only one got a movie deal. This is the story of the men who tried to make that movie.

We then cut to a scene of war torn Vietnam, in which Speedman, Portnoy, Chino, Lazarus, and a newcomer named Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) are struggling to get one of the bigger action scenes in the can. Unfortunately for the director, Damien (Steve Coogan), all five of the actors are spoiled prima donna's who worry more about whether or not they should be both crying at the same time then whether they should stay in character for the movie bombing run. After the bombing run goes off without the cameras, an Access Holliwood peice gives us a little insight into the minds of the three headline actors. Portnoy is on any drugs he can get his hands on, and only recently got out of rehab; Lazarus takes being in character a little too seriously, even going so far as to have radical "pigmentation alteration surgery" so he could more accurately portray the black seargent in the movie; and Speedman hasn't had a role since his last movie, Simple Jack, in which he portrayed a mentally retarded farm worker who could talk to animals, set record lows at the box office. Things aren't looking much better for Speedman: the movie he's currently on is rumored to be millions over budget and one month behind schedule, and they've only been in producition for five days. If the director can't get these actors to shape up and start taking this movie seriously, he'll be out of a job, out of money, and on a slow train to his own personal hell. Four-Leaf can see this, and as the one who wrote the book the movie is based on, he also has a vested interest in seeing the movie succeed. In a desperate attempt to salvage the movie by toughening up the actors. Four-Leaf takes the actors, the director, the movie's over-enthusiastic special effects guy, Cody (Danny R. McBride) and as many charges, fuses and detonators as he can carry, then drops the actors deep in the jungle. Unknown to all of them, they've just dropped into a real live hostile zone with real live hostile forces who are using real live bullets.

DO NOT BRING YOUR KIDS! Now that that's out of the way, GO TO THIS MOVIE! Explosions abound, there's lots of gunfire, and the raunchy stuff and flatus jokes are mercifully brief. Blood and gore flow like crimson rivers, and guts are given glorious time in the sun. They are not shy with the use of foul language or violence. There are at least three instances of Political Correctness Heresy (Robert Downey Jr. as a black man, Ben Stiller defending himself against a member of the local fauna, and the chief antagonist's Use of Tobacco), so we have to love them for that. The movie uses music that rocks hard and keeps the adrenaline going as long and hard as possible. I was skeptical about casting Robert Downey Jr. as a faux black character, but he manages it well. I honestly didn't recognize him until the surgery was mentioned. All the main actors offer truly incredible performances. The characters they portray are completely believable and lots of fun to watch in a semi-natural setting. This movie is really just pure fun, there is some character development and plot twists and all that stuff the high-brow types need, but at the end of the day, it's just fun. Violent, bloody, potentially politically incorrect fun: really, it's all you need.

Tropic Thunder will be in theatres this coming August 13.

Peg-Eye Post Script: I have to mention this, Tom Cruise is in this movie as the executive producer who alternates between verbally and physically abusing everyone beneath him. It's really the perfect role for him.

Overall: War has never been so funny.

# At Fri 8:37 PM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (2) | More Under the Peg | Tags: Ben Stiller Brandon Jackson culture humor Jack Black Jay Baruchel movies Nick Nolte Robert Downey Jr. Steve Coogan Tom Cruise Viet Nam violence

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Posted by: Rosemary at August 4, 2008 6:45 AM

Posted by: Ferdy at August 4, 2008 7:59 AM