6 reasons to LOVE Tropic Thunder

I saw a double feature of war movies this Sunday. Back to back Tropic Thunder and Star Wars The Clone Wars. I enjoyed them both so here are my thoughts.

TROPIC THUNDER!!!

6. Unconventional Casting - You've probably already heard about Tom Cruise being in the film. He is, and he is funny. I don't want to spoil it for you but Stiller really has a great eye for casting and this decision is inspired. Mathew McConaghey is in the flick also and he is funny as ever. His agent would fit perfectly in the world of HBO's Entourage. I'd love to see a Pecker Gold buddy agent flick. 

 

5. Tugg "Tuggernuts" Speedman - Stiller's action movie hero would fit in perfectly with Derek Zoolander. Speedman isn't smart, but he looks awesome with shit blowing up behind him. Stiller spends half the flick acting like a mentally handicapped person. I don't really understand how people are offended by this. It's not done with negativity it is simply a little bit of politically incorrect comedy. 

4. The Presentation - The film opens with a fake drink commercial starring one of the stars of the fake film in Tropic Thunder Alpa Chino. This fake advertisement is hilarious and surreal because for the length of it your not sure if this ridiculousness is actually real or not. It's then followed by fake trailers for Stiller, Black, and Downey Jr.'s characters. It's genius even though it looked a lot more realistic when Tarantino and Rodrigues did it in Grindhouse.  Also this film succeeds where Pineapple Express failed it delivered fun unique interesting and large scale action and mixed it effectively with comedy.

3&2. Jeff Portnoy and Kirk Lazarus - The performance everyone talks about at the end of this movie is usually about Robert Downey Jr.'s awesome performance. In fact, my favorite line in the film comes from Downey. This is really his summer between Iron Man and this Downey is at the top of Hollywood. 

I love Jack Black Nacho Libre is one of the funniest movies ever as far as I'm concerned. Black's performance is really over shadowed. He spends half the movie strung out and in withdrawal spouting insane statements, and screaming his head off. The character he plays in the film although understated is that sort of tough talking city guy in every war movie. 

 

1. The Ensemble - This group of actors together really works well. It almost feels like the comedy version of Ocean's Eleven. The character's play well off of each other and watching them go in and out of their characters is hilarious. Danny McBride also kicks ass in this flick as a pyromaniac special effects guy. Nolte also owns as a Vietnam Vet.

  

Each character is clearly defined and has a lot more comedy to mine. I would be all for Tropic Thunder 2, with a maybe a bigger more diverse cast  possible collaborators Dave Chappelle, Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Chris Rock, Dane Cook, Bill Murray, etc.