We are blessed this summer to have a pair of killer comedies in the theatres – Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder, both politically incorrect, weed obsessed and intensely funny.
TT provides rolling laughter, sometimes, jaw on the ground, too stunned to react laughter- a guaranteed worthy night at the movies that pushes every red button. It’s irresistibly high octane, the kind of brainy, inside comedy that would leave Will Ferrell seething with jealousy.
A stellar lineup – Stiller, Downey, Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise, and briefly, Steve Coogan, Matthew McConaughey and apparently Mickey Rooney was there - adds delight. Two newbies, Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson fit into this lead nest of tics. Tobey Maguire shows up for a brief moment as a gay medieval priest.
After a huge mistake by the filmmakers, the lads are left high and dry. The director winds up dead almost immediately, leaving them to fend for themselves. But it‘s no big deal – there are cameras set up around the jungle. They can make it up as they go.
This Lord of the Flies exercise suddenly changes when they meet forest dwellers – with lots of ammo. They find themselves in a life and death struggle, a real war, (which offers endless opportunities to slag off actors and their ‘methods’) – face-to-face, mano a mano with warriors led by an evil child (Brandon Soo Hoo), a cigar smoker and heroin manufacturer.
Tropic Thunder has powerful ‘wha’?’ factor – total disbelief in what your eyes are telling you they’re seeing - whether it’s Tom Cruise, bald, in a fat suit, a raging studio executive jivin’ to sleazy rock, cruelly skewering his flunkies and making not a whit of sense.
And how about Robert Downey Jr. in blackface? So wrong, so right, so funny. According to his co-stars, Downey stayed in character throughout the shoot. His urban patois is so real, as is another ‘character’ accent he ‘plays’. The man is genius, but that’s nothing new.
You’ve no doubt heard about these hilarities, just a couple in a dense 107 minutes so jammed with sly moments a single viewing can’t possibly suffice. I’m really high on the movie, moments of which kept coming back in hilarious, fierce flashes. Sure it’s dumb in parts, but so what? There’s big comic payoff.
Take Simple Jack, one of Stiller’s character’s characters, a mentally challenged farm boy, who became an international celebrity, apparently in the jungle too. Scenes from the film, co-starring Stiller’s wife, Christine Taylor, are squirmingly inappropriate and lead to an even worse discussion about actors and the dangers of going ‘full retard’.
The film within a film conceit offers a wealth of chances to slap Hollywood as action ranges from the jungle to the studio head office. Warriors run both worlds, of course, but Hollywood ain’t selling heroin, just movies. The studio bosses aren’t children but they are childish and self absorbed.
McConaughey finally steps up to the plate and shows some character, as Stiller’s agent, who thinks he’s about to lose his client. His efforts to get Stiller TiVo in the jungle are downright heartwarming.
This isn’t intellectual heavy lifting, but it’s just about perfect gross out comedy for the summer.
What an ending!
35mm comedy
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