Make-Believe War in the Tropics

by Gaetana Caldwell-Smith / September 2008

"Tropic Thunder," directed by Ben Stiller, written by Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Ethan Cohen. Starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, and Nick Nolte.

A warning: if you are of the easily offended, ultra-politically-correct elite, Ben Stiller‘s controversial, over-the-top, hilarious film, "Tropic Thunder," is not for you. So by all means stay home and let the rest of us have all the fun.

The two most talked about elements in the film are the flagrant use of the word "retard," and Robert Downey Jr.‘s portrayal of a Black man. His character, Kirk Lazarus, a self-absorbed, Oscar-winning, total-immersion, Australian actor (think Russell Crowe) has undergone a medical procedure to darken his skin for the role of Sgt. Lincoln Osiris.

In his well-executed, many-faceted satire, Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, a declining action hero who, as in Stallone’s "Rocky" and "Rambo" series, has starred in one-too-many "Scorcher" action films (I-IV). Speedman is under a contract arranged by his agent, Rick Peck (Matthew McConnaughey, in a thankless role) to producer Les Grossman, an aging, bald, potty-mouth, in giant aviator glasses. Grossman is played by Tom Cruise, whom you may recognize only by subtle vocal inflections. Grossman has to make a non-Scorcher film that will rake in hundreds of millions of dollars. Hence, "Tropic Thunder."

Before the actual film begins, we are treated to movie-house commercial send-ups (one, for a soft drink, Booty Sweat, in red cans emulating Coke). Following these are trailers from Tugg’s "Scorcher" films and Jack Black’s drug-addled character, Jeff Portnoy, in "The Fatties" series, where Portnoy plays all the parts—a take off on Eddie Murphy‘s films.

"Tropic Thunder" is based on the memoirs of Vietnam vet John "Four-Leaf" Taybeck, who wears a pair of hooks in place of hands. Taybeck is played by Nick Nolte, whose character is a match for Nolte’s infamous mug shot.

The film opens on a scene of helicopters chugging above a dense jungle. The camera zooms in on wounded soldiers after an ambush. It is gripping. We are in Vietnam. Sgt. Osiris leans over Speedman, (who plays Taybeck), who‘s hands have been blown off. They exchange hackneyed, war-buddy clichés.

Then, Speedman breaks character: "Can we cut?" The camera moves to a wide-angle shot of the irate director, Damien Cockburn, played by British actor Steve Coogan, surrounded by the film crew. We realize that we are witnessing the making of a film called, "Tropic Thunder."

Stiller, Downey, Black, and actor-rapper Brandon T. Jackson as Alpha Chino, along with munitions expert Cody (Danny McBride), find themselves smack in the middle of a drug war. But the actors believe they’re still making a film until Speedman is held hostage by a menacing child soldier with a gun taller than himself. Black’s Portnoy feels he’s reached the Promised Land.

Things get really hairy and life-threatening until the child soldier recognizes Speedman as "Simple Jack," a character in a film about a boy who stutters, and the word "retard" is freely used. Seems he has a video of the film and a soft spot for "Simple Jack." Speedman, like a white-face Jerry Lewis, wearing an Andy Warhol wig, is forced to re-enact the role for the captors.

Eventually, Speedman becomes Marlon Brando in "Apocalypse Now." And John "Four Leaf" Tayback’s real identity is accidentally revealed when he loses his prosthetics.

Besides the flagrant use of "retard." and clips from "Simple Jack," which is a parody of films like "Forrest Gump," I Am Sam," and the "Rain Man," the filmmakers correctly anticipated controversy over Downey‘s portrayal of Lazarus as a Black man.

In an interview, Downey has said that he feared being tarred and feathered and run out of town, and that his reputation would be destroyed. But Black actor/rapper Brandon T. Jackson, who is excellent in the role of Alpha Chino, keeps things in perspective, going up on Lazarus when his character improvises in clichéd “darkie” talk. In one scene, Chino tells Osiris that his one of his pronouncements of wisdom ("400 years . . .") is the opening voiceover for the TV hit, "The Jeffersons."

The script had called for Osiris to use the "n’ word, but Jackson said that went over the line. Downey admitted that Jackson might have saved the film. But on the other hand, according to Stiller in the same interview, "What Robert [Downey] was doing was so genuine and funny, it felt okay. This character was just really likable and enjoyable. [Downey] couldn’t be tentative about it, though, he had to commit fully to this guy."

The "n" word stayed in and was beautifully handled by Downey and Jackson. Still Downey’s portrayal became the subject of print-media critics, bloggers, and talk shows.

The dialogue and scene set-ups in "Tropic Thunder" are rife with clever references to just about every popular and classic film ever made, and slip by like quicksilver. One scene is ripped right from 1940s black-and-white World War II films. The grizzled grunts hunker down in their foxholes, pull out photos, and talk about their girls back home. Chino tells Osiris about his, named Lance.

There are few mainstream, blockbuster films without a female lead or love interest but "Tropic Thunder" is one. In a final scene that takes place at the Oscars, carefully scan the audience for celebrity cameos; there’s a great one of a pissed-off Jon Voight.

Stiller‘s film satirizes film-making, the people behind them, and actors, and just about everything and anything that passes as entertainment for and marketing to an insatiable, gullible public. Especially Oscar-winning war flicks. Would that he could do the same for political conventions. Still, how can you parody a parody?