"TROPIC THUNDER: 2-DISC DIRECTOR’S CUT"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Ben Stiller as TUGG SPEEDMAN Robert Downey Jr. as KIRK LAZARUS Jack Black as JEFF PORTNOY Brandon T. Jackson as ALPA CHINO Jay Baruchel as KEVIN SANDUSKY Steve Coogan as DAMIEN COCKBURN Nick Nolte as FOUR LEAF TAYBACK Danny McBride as CODY Unrated Studio: Paramount/DreamWorks Directed by: Ben Stiller Back to DVD Review Home |  |
Now that the controversy’s died down, can we all just sit back, relax and enjoy “Tropic Thunder” on DVD?
After all, this is one of the funniest movies of the summer, and it was a funny summer for movies. You had “Kung Fu Panda” and “WALL-E” charm the families. You had “Step Brothers” and “Pineapple Express” make the grown-ups laugh. But it was “Tropic Thunder” that won the day in terms of inappropriate hilarity.
As Ben Stiller explains in the supplemental materials of the two-disc set, he and co-writer Justin Theroux were inspired by how actors brag about going to military boot camp in preparation for war movies, even though this is a softball activity for the pampered Hollywood elite. The film tells the story of the most hectic fake real-life war movie ever made.
Stiller plays action star Tugg Speedman, whose career is on the decline. He signs up to star in a Vietnam picture with award-winning method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) and fart-comedy legend Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black). The actors’ egos send the production spiraling out of control, so director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) and writer Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte) drop them into the jungle to experience the real Vietnam... only to have them captured by rebels and be forced to live their own rainforest nightmare.
This film offended many people, with its use of the “R-word” to the fact that Downey Jr. spends much of the film in blackface. However, you have to understand that this film isn’t poking fun at the intellectually challenged or the plight of the African American. Rather, the movie is poking fun at pretentious actors who go too far to make a role work. If you don’t get the joke, you don’t deserve to laugh.
Ben Stiller, who has spent much of his life in the Hollywood spotlight, achieves a brilliant mix of action war film and industry satire. Even though these characters are rock stupid, callous and utterly unlikable, he is able to make them heroes of the movie and elicits sympathy from the audience.
One of the funniest films of the year, “Tropic Thunder” is worth a first look, or a second one if you already caught it in the theaters. And keep in mind that some of the funniest moments come from the fake trailers that preceded the movie.
The DVD comes in a 2-disc director’s cut that includes some deleted scenes. While it is technically unrated, there’s nothing that’s any more inflammatory that what was seen on screens this summer. However, there are some more laughs.
However, the best parts of the DVD comes in the special features. There’s a brilliant mockumentary about the making of the fake movie-within-a-movie, in the spirit of “Hearts of Darkness.” Add the fact that Robert Downey Jr. keeps his character-within-a-character on as Sergeant Lincoln Osiris in the DVD commentary, and you’ve got a hilarious behind-the-scenes look at the film.
Other special features include two commentaries, deleted and extended scenes, an alternate ending, the hysterical spot that the stars did for the MTV movie awards, full unedited takes from some scenes and video rehearsals. There’s also extensive behind-the-scenes documentaries on the pre-production process, the “Hot LZ” scene, pyrotechnics (respectfully called “Blowing S#%t Up”), the cast and the production design.
The only sore spot I had watching the special features is a PSA that panders to the film’s critics who complained about the use of the “R-word.” I would have rather seen that left off the DVD because anyone who watches the film should get the joke and not have a knee-jerk reaction that caused a stir this summer.
But don’t let that stop you from checking this film out on DVD and laughing till your sides hurt.
