The TROPIC THUNDER experience, and a couple of potentially bad ideas.

I saw this movie last Thursday, but have been sitting on my thoughts because I am afraid that it is going to be kind of hard to discuss the film without actually talking about it (my raging hatred of the current trend of "synopsis-reviews" is known far and wide, hence the consistent vagueness on my part in this blog's film entries). That being said, I apologize for what will inevitably be a malformed critique.

Straight off, Tropic Thunder is absolutely hysterical. I laughed out loud more in this movie than I have in a long time, and the theater crowd definitely joined in. Quick note: make sure to get to the theater on time, as there are a handful of goodies before the film-proper starts that you absolutely do not want to miss (one of my hardest laughs was during this portion of the movie). Also, you only have to stay through part of the credits--and trust me, it is more than worth staying.

Short synopsis: five Hollywood stereotypes are cast in the adaptation of a Vietnam vet's memoir, and their individual quirks set the film so far behind budget that it apparently bends time and space (you'll see). In order to save his ailing production, first-time director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) takes the advice of the book's author "Four Leaf" Tayback (Nick Nolte) and drops his prima donna cast in the middle of a jungle in order to force them to get along and shoot the remainder of his film guerrilla style. Zaniness ensues.

The five Hollywood clichés should sound somewhat familiar to most everyone:

• Tugg Speedman, the fading action star (Ben Stiller).
  
• Alpa Chino (say it out loud), rapper turned actor (Brandon T. Jackson).
  
• Jeff Portnoy, the potty humor comedian (Jack Black).
  
• Kevin Sandusky, the character actor (Jay Baruchel).
  
• Kirk Lazarus, method actor and multiple Academy Award winner (Robert Downey Jr.).
  

Jackson and Baruchel are both supporting cast for the three larger stars, but give good performances and are completely necessary in order for the others to shine. Jack Black does what Jack Black does (he's wearing a little thin with me, although I nearly busted a gut during a couple of his scenes), but the film belongs to Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller. I was surprised to see Stiller hold his own fairly well against the ever-amazing Downey, sending me into several heavy fits of laughter (one word: hat). Downey is as per usual completely on his own level, and once again knocks it out of the ballpark playing such a complex roll in a gorram comedy. I kid you not; the man is a cinematic treasure.

There are also guest appearances galore in this movie, and I will not spoil them by revealing who they are. One of the guest appearances practically steals the film (much to my surprise), and all of them are welcome additions to an already fun movie. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that Ben Stiller wrote and directed the film; he has always been really hit or miss with me, and I tend to prefer him in very small doses.

Feel free to buzz me once you've seen the film, because it is a lot of fun to talk about and I am itching to discuss it. Tropic Thunder is good enough that I could rationalize seeing it again in the theater, which is no small feat. If you need a good hard laugh (or maybe a hundred good laughs), definitely check this one out. I'm giving it a star-studded 4.25 out of 5.

This is wonderfully disturbing on so many levels...

Let's move on to a couple of potential upcoming projects, both of which frighten me a little bit. The fellas over on /Film are reporting that Russell Crowe may be starring in a biopic of the late great Bill Hicks, which frankly hurts my head a little. If you know me at all, you know that Bill Hicks is pretty much a god to me, and I'm not so sure we need a film about him. I am and have been a fan of Russell Crowe's work, but does he have what it takes to portray the Dark Little Poet himself? Hurm.

They are also reporting that Sam Raimi and Tom Cruise are possibly developing an adaptation of one of my favorite comics of the past decade, the superhero crime drama Sleeper by the mighty Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. My feelings are still very much hurt over the Spider-Man 3 debacle (I had almost forgotten the mud puddle I stomped through it during my review last year), making me a little nervous about Raimi tackling another comic property so soon. Tom Cruise could possibly pull off playing the lead role of Carver (he'd have to be willing go some place really, really dark, and even though he was excellent in Magnolia, I'm just not sure he's up to it), but his involvement could possibly do more harm than good to the film with Scientology bashing being all the rage these days.

The fall semester starts tomorrow, so I don't know how much time I'll have for entries and updates (remember how few I managed during the spring semester). I am going to try and post some of my projects, but we'll see how things go. For now, I'm going to leave you with some good old-fashioned Bill Hicks goodness...