Everyone loves a good war
(except maybe America, which only seems to like its own wars — sorry
Russia), and who doesn’t get butterflies over the prospect of a nice fat
controversy? Luckily, Ben Stiller has a flick out this week that combines the
two and takes a few potshots at Hollywood as well.
Tropic Thunder
is an R-rated satirical action/comedy about a group
of actors making a Vietnam war movie who get plopped into actual combat with
drug lords in South East Asia — but think it is all part of the film they
are shooting.
The controversy was supposed
to come from Robert Downey Jr., who plays a self-obsessed Australian
Oscar-winning method actor named Kirk Lazarus who thinks he’s so talented he
can dye his skin and play the part of a black platoon sergeant. Initially,
people were worried this constituted “Blackface’ comedy and would incite racial
tension. In fact, it’s the best performance of the summer and
director/writer/producer Stiller smartly includes a real black man, Brandon T
Jackson playing a ridiculous hip hop star-turned-actor named Alpa Chino, to
call Lazarus on his over-the-top clichéd blackness. It’s funny, smart, very
well pulled off and, in the end, a non-issue.
The real controversy brewing
out of
Tropic Thunder
revolves
around the use of the word ‘retard’ and one speech in particular, where Lazarus
explains to once-popular-action-star-trying-to-turn-dramatic-actor Tugg
Speedman (Stiller) that it’s okay to play a “half-retard like Rain Man” if you
want to win a statue, but that “no one goes full-retard.”
The Down Syndrome Group is
pretty pissed off, as are the people at the Special Olympics who are calling
for a boycott — which should make for some interesting protest signs if
nothing else. Of course, this is all good press for the film and the studio has
refused to change the film which is actually pretty funny.
With its star-studded cast
(Jack Black stars as a comedian/junkie who specializes in fat suits and fart
jokes, Canadian Jay Baruchel (
Knocked Up)
and cameos for small roles from Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, Bill
Hader, and even Tom Cruise),
Tropic Thunder
is a mix of comedic highs and narrative lulls, but
like Stiller’s previous
Zoolander
— which poked at models and the fashion industry the way this hits
Hollywood —
Thunder
will get
funnier the more times you watch it.
Sticking with the war theme,
the new
Star Wars
flick opens
Friday, but before you start foaming at the mouth be warned —
Star
Wars: The Clone Wars
is a computer
animated feature, mostly just a non-stop parade of action scenes draped on thin
and inconsequential plotting and characterization, perfect for kids or serious
video gamers. While the animation is pretty slick and dynamic, perhaps the most
interesting part of the film is that the wooden faced cartoon characters can
act as well or better than their human counterparts in the over-hyped prequel
trilogy. This would be good Saturday morning fare and indeed a new
Star Wars
series is slated to hit TV in October.
Also opening this Friday is
Mirrors,
another remake of a Japanese Horror flick starring
Kiefer Sutherland as a down-and-out cop turned security guard who’s
family/home/life is invaded by spirits through mirrors, shiny doorknobs or
anything reflective. Not much pre-release info available on this one but it
co-stars the always awesome Amy Smart (
The Butterfly Effect)
and is directed by French master of atmosphere
Alexandre Aja (
High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes
) so expect lots of creepy lighting, a hair-raising
soundtrack and visceral, visual gore. No war, no controversy, just solid,
pant-shitting horror. That’s good enough for me.
