Tropic Thunder
Tropic Thunder is the fictitious re-enactment of a non fiction book that turns out to be fiction and in the process fiction becomes reality. Huh? Never mind, all you need to know is that the laughs are non stop through this Ben Stiller directed comedy in which he also stars. The character development is brilliant as we get to know a lot about the movie stars within a movie by the opening scenes which look like a continuation of the preceding trailers. “Four Leaf” Tayback (Nick Nolte living up to his mug shots), a Vietnam vet penned the biographical adventure Tropic Thunder being filmed in Vietnam with a cast of actors playing actors. They include Stiller as Tug Speedman an action star on the wane, Jack Black in a shocking blonde buzz cut and Robert Downey, Jr as a fair haired Aussie playing an inner city black man (he nails both parts). In a departure, as Speedman’s manager Matthew McConaughey playing Rick Peck is about the only one who doesn’t go topless and that includes Tom Cruise although in his case it’s because he’s got a bald pate. Cruise plays Les Grossman, a flabby four eyed producer with a temper as short as Cruise himself. His apoplectic tirade over mismanagement causes the dressed down director (Steve Cogan) to try extreme method acting on his cast in a drastic attempt to pull up the quality of the production. He leaves his stars alone in the jungle where like their characters they have to fend for themselves. The jungle is teeming with drug lords armed to the teeth and every bit as dangerous as the Viet Cong. When Tug is captured his band of actor brothers comes to his rescue a la Tropic Thunder the book.