Movie Review: Tropic Thunder

I saw the trailer for this and thought it would be kind of funny, although I'm not surprised at the controversy that surrounds this film and the issues of Vietnam veterans, the mentally disabled, and race. However, I thought this was a great comedy. Or maybe I just don't get offended as easily.

The movie's fake trailers set the tone and introduce the characters in a clever way. My favorite is the trailer for "Satan's Alley", which introduces the method actor Kirk Lazarus (played by Robert Downey Jr.). Robert Downey Jr.'s character is definitely the most complex of the four leads and his little character study on racial anxiety in the United States is by itself worth seeing the film.

I know very, very little about how Hollywood "works", but I would venture to guess this is a fairly accurate satire on many aspects of the movie industry. Tom Cruise is hilarious as the profane movie producer Les Grossman (who, as the Slate review remarks, is both a literal and figurative dick). He pulls off triumphant victory dances to hip-hop music. Jerks just don't get this funnier.

My favorite side performance was that of Matthew McConaughey's agent for Ben Stiller's character. The running gag involving a TiVo set culminates in his character trekking through the Vietnamese jungle alone, while giving the audience hope for the human condition. Maybe Hollywood isn't full of self-absorbed, egotist freaks like Cruise's Les Grossman.