Review of Tropic Thunder (2008) by Markb. — 08 Oct 2008

To go "full-on retard" or not to go "full-on retard", that is the question. Perhaps if I were the parent of a Down's syndrome child I could more easily embrace the objections of those who are, in some cases, understandably offended by the dialogues that occur late in Ben Stiller's take-no-prisoners film industry satire between actors debating whether to use restaint in portraying mentally challenged characters, as Tom Hanks did in Forrest Gump, or to go way over the top like Sean Penn in I Am Sam, and the box office and Academy Award rewards and penalties that potentially go with either approach.

Although I can sympathize (if not empathize) with said critics, I think some of them may be too emotionally close to the subject to understand that Tropic Thunder's principals are figures of ridicule and NOT ROLE MODELS--after all, nobody objected when the Nazis in Schindler's List spewed anti-Semitism, did they? Besides, Kirk Lazarus's (Robert Downey Jr.

, enjoying a movie year that some actors would sell less-loved siblings to have) and Tugg Speedman's (Stiller) observations are dead-on--if anything they don't go far enough. This movie doesn't mention the worst example of all: Cliff Robertson's horrible overacting in 1968's Charly, which netted him an Oscar for a role that he ruthlessly engineered for himself while demolishing Daniel Keyes' fine novel in the process.

Tropic Thunder also neglects to discuss how many Little Golden Guys inevitably go to performers who (pardon the expression in advance) go "full-on gimp", portraying PHYSICALLY challenged folks (Jane Wyman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Hanks in Philadelphia, etc.

, etc. It could be said--though not by me--that the only actor to honestly come upon an Oscar this way was Marlee Matlin.) Clearly, the actors and crew of a Vietnam movie-within-a-movie who fall down a real-life rabbit hole that Lewis Carroll never dreamed of think that Konstantin ("Love art in yourself, not yourself in art") Stanislavski was a long-deposed Balkan government official; Stiller and cowriter Justin Theroux are ruthless in depicting them, and the result is a movie whose box office success, like that of 2006's Borat, happily disproves the old saw that satire is what closes on Saturday night.

Unfortunately, as with Borat, much of Tropic Thunder is funnier on paper than actually on screen (and it never manages to top the magnificent parodies seen in the first five minutes, which among other things should prove beyond all remaining doubt that hacks-from-hell Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedburg should be shot into outer space).

But even though Tropic Thunder is stuffed with insider jokes that will confuse if not outright bore casual moviegoers, it's difficult not to admire its utter mercilessness and lack of sentimentality in depicting EVERYONE in the profession as greedier and more heartless and self-centered than those in Wall Street and Washington combined.

(Sadly, this hasn't changed much over the years; if you want proof, read Joseph McBride's disturbing John Ford and Frank Capra biographies. Nor will it: while AMC's brilliant TV series Mad Men delights in exposing the difference between early 1960s Madison Avenue culture and today's--puff, puff--TRopic Thunder could easily be remade 48 years later with very few changes.

) But you gotta admire the resourcefulness, caginess and intelligence of A Certain Superstar whose recent couch-jumping antics, overespousal of religious beliefs and willingness to star in Robert Redford's boring Iraq preachathon have subjected him to hard times: his astonishing comeback cameo as a studio slimeball who maybe has taken a sequence in Risky Business a bit too much to heart has, at least for now, restored for Mr.

Cruise the mantle of One Of The Smartest Guys In Hollywood.