Review of Tropic Thunder (2008) by Mike S — 28 Jul 2013

A mash-up parody of several movie genres, including war movies, action movies, and behind-the-scenes documentaries. There are plenty of inside jokes and gags that you won't get unless you've seen the films being mocked (I'm sure I missed many!).

Sometimes very funny, sometimes just bizarre. One of the most bizarre elements was white American actor Roberty Downey Jr. playing an white Australian actor playing a black American character and staying in character even the cameras aren't rolling.

I assume this is at least partly a spoof of Daniel Day Lewis, but his "black" accent was so slurred it was often hard to understand what he was saying. The humour also occasionally verged on offensive, and a public service announcement on the DVD promoting understanding for those with intellectual disabilities indicates the studio recognized they may have something to apologize for.

Hilarious performance by Tom Cruise as a hairy, balding studio executive. All in all, this was a mixed bag that would have been better had it been a bit shorter. It pushed the gags just a bit too far and ran on too long.

Some pretty cool explosions, though!