Tropic Thunder is a brilliant film for two major reasons. 1. It's an incredibly entertaining film. 2. It analyzes acting from many different perspectives (arguably, all perspectives).
1. This film is chock full of excellent actors. Whether they're comedians or "playful" actors, all of the cast do a fantastic job of keeping the energy and entertainment high, despite the desperate situations they end up in. Ben Stiller, a way-too-comedic actor for the goofi-ness he presents, keeps a serious but ridiculous character from becoming trite and irrelevant. Robert Downey, Jr. masterfully plays a generic African-American 'Nam Sergeant, despite his white heritage. He, also, easily slips into his Australian character, on demand. [One of my favorite lines is: "I know who I am! I'm a dude, playing a dude, pretendin' to be another dude!"] Jack Black, perhaps a comic genius...perhaps...., plays a low-brow "comedian," where he creates gold through drug-hazed desperation.
This is perhaps one of the best Jay Baruchel performances ever. His role is perfect: just nerdy enough, he can't be taken seriously; just nerdy enough, he know exactly what's going on; but strong and confident enough to be there in a fight, when it's needed.
2. While my favorite moments in this film are when the characters are deconstructing acting, I still get a rush out of the action. I have always loved SPOILER the scene that ends with Robert Downey, Jr. saying, "I'm a lead farmer, motherf****er!!!" Simply because of the irony. Here he is, terrifying a whole group of blood-thirsty criminals with a crazy violent attack of two assault rifles; and yet his assault rifles are not real, ergo he poses no threat. These criminals are terrified, even though they can't actually be hurt. It's a testament to Robert Downey, Jr.'s character's strategy....We gotta do what we know best...Acting! It shouldn't work. It absolutely shouldn't work. No matter how much I blame it on Hollywood story-contrivance, I can't back around the fact that it WOULD work. In these scenarios, it would work.
I heard that Tom Cruise CHOSE to use fake hands in this film. His "fake" hands are chubby...it's brilliant...why wouldn't you watch this film?
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