It's no "Apocalypse Now" or "Platoon," but "Tropic Thunder" was Good for Quite a Few Laughs

    Three Blackhawk (not Huey) Helicopters flying in low over the tree tops in present day 1960's Vietnam. One would think the growing strains of the Door's classic "The End," would build to a crescendo and then lowering the volume to some actor's esoteric narration foreshadowing of what was to come. Not in this farce directed by Ben Stiller.

Instead, once the 'chopper lands, Kirk Lazarus playing a sergeant in "blackface," portrayed by real actor Robert Downey, Jr., jumps from one of it's open doors and growls in a stereotypical black man's voice, "Now let's go find Four Leaf," at which point the camera pans to Tugg Speedman playing Four Leaf Tayback portrayed by real actor Ben Stiller; and in all seriousness, burst out of the jungle doing the Sergeant Elias death scene from "Platoon." Confused?

    "Tropic Thunder" is confusing to some extent for everyone, but most especially, for those with incredibly organized minds. Obviously, I am not blessed with such a mind so I liked it, and found it on occasion incredibly funny. Present day Hollywood is not very adept at producing truly funny movies, so it is my practice to search for humor, and I must admit, some times I'm easy in my critiques; however, I believe "Tropic Thunder" will hold up pretty well.

    It is always difficult in constructing a movie inside a movie, especially when the actors playing actors are not playing for laughs, but serious. Funny works when the actors playing the actors take themselves way too seriously in some unique manner and are believable. This is where "Tropic Thunder" succeeds. The three main actors playing other self absorbed actors; Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr. and Jack Black were convincing; but, it was Robert Downey, Jr. as "the dude, playing the dude, pretending to be another dude" that really works very well. As Australian actor Kirk Lazarus, who in an interview gives an apparent "nod" to Russell Crowe, Downey, Jr. plays the hyper talented ultra method actor who had his skin surgically dyed a darker tone for his role as the black sergeant. While on location for the movie within the movie, which was also called "Tropic Thunder," Lazarus spoke in his stereotypical black man's cadence on and off the set - so artsy.

    The rest of the cast was more than adequate, and especially the all star contingency of Nick Nolte as the real Four Leaf Tayback as the movie advisor, Mathew McConauhey as Rick Peck, Speedman's agent, and Tom Cruise as producer Les Grossman. Many other present and past top tier actors, too numerous to mention for this piece, play themselves in fake movies and at fake awards dinners - it lends credibility.

    If a movie strives to be original, makes me laugh hard and doesn't waste my time (has a runtime of 106 minutes), I find it easy to give it 3 stars.

    Released on November 17, 2008. Rated R.