Tropic Thunder Movie Review!

Tropic Thunder Movie ReviewTropic Thunder is neither your typical war action movie, nor is it your average satirical comedy.  It’s a movie within a movie, with actors within actors within characters, getting lost in the plot while getting lost within the jungle.  Despite the tangled mess Ben Stiller and crew weave, it’s still a fun journey riddled with laughter and bullets.

Tropic Thunder is a novel about a group of grunts that made it back from a grueling escapade during the Vietnam war that is being turned into a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster.  The problem is, the director is spineless, the actors are divas, the effects guy blew up the biggest effect while cameras weren’t rolling, and the movie is in danger of getting canned for being over budget and behind schedule.  The tough-as-nails (or is it hooks, in this case?) novelist suggests that the director abandons all the flash and pomp and gets back to the simple nitty-gritty to whip the actors back into shape.  They helicopter-drop the actors into the middle of the jungle, unwittingly in the midst of heroin producing gang territory.  The actors, believing that all the gunfire and terrorist kidnappings are part of the plot, must get through the jungle and back to reality with as little casualties as possible.  It’s a difficult task, especially when the plot gets a little too convoluted, but in the end everything comes together and gets out of the mud for a nice, funny finish.

Ben Stiller, the movie’s writer/director/star, plays Tugg Speedman, the hard-bodied but soft-brained action star whose career is suffering a slow burn after a series of less-than-average movies.  Robert Downey Jr. steals the show as Kirk Lazarus, the Oscar-winning method actor so serious with immersing himself in the skins of his characters that he loses himself in the role, including his blackface revival of Sgt. Osiris.  Jack Black, not really diversifying much from his real life persona, plays the drug-addled flatulent comedian Jeff Portnoy.  Brandon Jackson plays rap tycoon Alpa Chin who never misses an opportunity to branch out either with movies or selling Booty Juice.  And Canadian homeboy Jay Baruchel plays geek Kevin Sandusky, whose brains save the day, even if his co-stars can never get his name right.

The movie is also riddled with cameos, some greater than others.  The increasingly popular Danny McBride is a surprisingly capable pyrotechnic engineer, but falls a little flat with the humour.  Nick Nolte is Four Leaf Tayback, the not-quite shell-shocked auteur whose book the movie is based on.   Matthew McConaughey does what he does best, playing the goofy pretty-faced agent Rick “The Pecker” Peck.  Surprisingly, the funniest cameo of all (at least in this reviewer’s opinion) is by Tom Cruise, but I’ll save the surprise of what was so laughable about his Les Grosman.

Slapstick shticks aside, Tropic Thunder pokes fun of classic war movies of the past, like Platoon or Heart of Darkness, with great gusto while still coming off as an homage to the genre.  It makes fun of the gangbusters process of making a big-budget film, especially when it becomes a bigger budget film than the studios anticipated.  Nothing is safe from Stiller’s skewering finger, from money-grubbing studio execs, vain directors attempting to be genuine “for the sake of the movie,” actors of all types, and even to self-important effects directors.  There’s enough barb to go around for everyone, and the audience is left to revel in it.  If anything, it’s a great movie to bust out your Animal Mother replica helmet, strap on a few faux grenades, and hole up in the theatre with some friends for a funny, wild ride.

Read Jb’s blog here!

September 3, 2008 | Filed Under Movie reviews | 5 Comments 
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Pineapple Express Movie Review

Pineapple Express Movie ReviewPineapple Express is the latest addition to the stoner-buddy movie hall of fame, making its way to the top of the pile for putting on a fresh satirical spin to the otherwise overplayed genre.

Seth Rogen brings on the sweet and goofy goodness to yet another Judd Apatow-produced movie as Dale Denton, the process server whose pot habits lead him down a winding path of hilarious disaster and destruction. James Franco, another Apatow vet from the Freaks and Geeks days, sheds his usual brooding heartthrob persona to play the part of flaky drug dealer Saul Silver, who is looking to make friends and enough cash to support his Bubbie’s nursing home bill.

Dale is under the firm impression that you can’t be friends with your drug dealer, but when the going gets tough, Dale runs straight to Saul for help. After purchasing a rare and potent strand of weed from Saul, Dale leaves to deliver a subpoena to one of the main drug lords in town, Ted Jones (Gary Cole). Incidentally, Jones is embroiled in a drug war with “the Asians.” While smoking a pre-work joint outside the drug lord’s home, Dale witnesses the murder of one of the Asian spies by Jones and his paid dirty cop (Rosie Perez). He flees the scene to run to Saul’s, but not before throwing out his roach full of Pineapple Express out the window. Dale accurately deduces that the bad guys will be able to trace the wasted rare doobie back to Saul, so they must go on the run.

Dale and Saul are then on the lam from Jones’s hit men, a bickering semi-unprofessional duo played by Kevin Corrigan and Craig Robinson. They try and get help from Saul’s quirky supplier Red (Danny McBride), who easily flips on them but redeems himself later on. Also, while juggling trying to survive being hunted down by dirty cops and drug lords, Dale also has to deal with meeting his girlfriend Angie’s parents for the first time. By the way, his girlfriend, played by Amber Heard, is a senior… in high school. Throw in one of the funniest car chase scenes ever produced, plenty of gunfire, big explosions, and a smattering of dead bodies, and you have a good time on your hands.

There are enough juvenile jokes, homosexual undertones, and ad-libbed dialogue to choke on, but it seems fitting considering the subject matter. Also in the movie are dozens of cameos pulled from Apatow’s cast goodie bag. And, of course, there are half-naked men carrying their BFFFs (best “effing” friends forever) out of harm’s way to save the day. Combined with the non-condescending satirical outlook on pot, and Rogen’s and Franco’s incomparable comedic partnership, Pineapple Express is elevated to a higher level of comedy; one that, instead of focusing entirely on the obvious for humour, concentrates on the connections and friendships to draw on for material.

It’s not quite just a stoner movie, and it’s not entirely an action-packed cops-and-bad-guys flick, but it is funny and, above all else, another signature “bromance” movie brought to us by Apatow’s creative team. Take a deep breath and inhale the funny.

You can visit JB’s personal blog here!

August 12, 2008 | Filed Under Movie reviews | 3 Comments 
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,