Movie of the Week: Tropic Thunder

Alexa: I was all about “Tropic Thunder” when I first saw it in college, and I’m happy to report that nearly 10 (!) years after its release, the movie holds up. Sure, the Tivo joke is a bit dated, but its biting critique of Hollywood is as on-point as ever. “Tropic Thunder” was released in the middle of a heyday for R-rated comedies (think “Knocked Up,” “Superbad,” “The Hangover”), but it cranks the genre up to 11, so to speak, by incorporating ample action and satire. The cast is replete with Hollywood archetypes, from the troubled comedy star looking for a comeback to the rapper-turned-actor who just wants to be taken seriously, but the movie humanizes them beyond that superficial layer. Perhaps the film’s greatest punch line is the fact that Robert Downey Jr. actually received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of an ambitious white method actor who darkens his skin to play the platoon’s black sergeant. It seems Hollywood wasn’t in on the joke about the lengths self-serious actors will go for awards season glory, no matter how absurd or extreme. But “Tropic Thunder” succeeds because its satire is just sharp enough without veering too far into cynicism, and it never loses sight of the fact that it is, at its heart, a comedy chockablock with hysterical antics. It’s hilarious in its own right and whip-smart in its criticism. Striking that balance is what makes it so much fun to watch.

Joel: There’s a pretty good chance you probably saw Tropic Thunder at some point in the past ten years. You probably have fond memories of the movie, thinking, it was pretty good comedy. That’s at least how I felt going into this one. A pretty good movie that maybe won’t be quite as funny as it was when I was in college, but it will still probably hold up. If that’s how you feel, you really need to take the time to rewatch this one. Tropic Thunder, if anything has improved over the past decade. A half dozen or so jokes from the movie have really ingrained themselves into pop culture, so it’s usually those jokes you think of when the movie comes up. But the actual joke density for this movie in incredible. There were so many laugh out loud moments that I’d forgotten about or just plain didn’t catch the first time watching this. This movie is a sharp, clever satire of moviemaking and the entire Hollywood system, one that may be funner now because it seems that in real life Hollywood has only gotten closer to the exaggerated version presented in this movie. Satire can be a very tricky thing to get right, but Tropic Thunder walks that line masterfully, to pull this movie off, and I’d plain forgotten just how good it is.

Chris: I'm so glad we decided to watch this movie. There was a period of time where this was MY movie, I watched it constantly and could quote just about every good joke (essentially all of RDJ's lines). I watched it until I became annoyed with it and then went to the other end of the spectrum and refused to watch it until it was forgotten about. Watching it again 10 years after it originally came out, I am amazed on just how well this works as both a flat-out comedy as well as a biting satire, if you so choose to dig into that. It's a comedy that has plenty of raunch but has an abundance of substance to sink your teeth into that will make you think as you're laughing your head off of your shoulders. Everything just works in Tropic Thunder, the writing, the production and the all-star cast.