Tropic Thunder Review

The decision was rushed and last minute and our cars screeched down the highway from all different directions. Wes was the first to arrive and make his cinematic purchase, I arrived shortly after, totally unaware that Taylor was standing behind me in a sea of 17 year old gaggling over the movie Pineapple Express (at the age of 17 any reference to drugs, especially if you have a limited experience seems both edgy and comically ~ we were all guilty of the same giddiness). And while Pineapple Express is a good movie, and is very well written, it left me feeling like the whole point of the movie was that Seth Rogan likes pot… and well I knew that before I went into the theater, I mean who really doesn’t… Jay and Katie showed up last and bought their tickets from the very convenient credit card machine vendor next to the box office. Taylor, after being hit up by one of the aforementioned 17 year olds also used to the machine to purchase some contraband tickets and earn himself a generous $.50 from the ungrateful adolescent and his two female partners in crime.

So mind-numbing details aside, we filed up the escalator, past the ticket collector on into the first theater on the left. After watching the obligatory previews the lights dimmed and it got interesting. The movie opened with a series of mock previews staring the characters in Tropic Thunder and provided and interesting and effective backstory for each of them. Essentailly they helped to manifest the movie universe within the a movie and all within the first ten minutes.

After this very creative intro, they throw you right into the mix of it. The first scene of the movie is a war cut that goes on just long enough to make you wonder if the directors are referencing the actual events of it is supposed to represent the comedic mock-up, in the end Robert D. and Ben Stiller make it more than apparent that it is the latter. There is a hilariously delivered dialogue delivered between the two all while Stiller waves around too over-the-top prostetic stumps for arms.

The movie itself is filled with plot-twist, hilarious one-liners, and series of running jokes. There is even a cameo by Tom Cruise that is probably his best performance in over a decade – it might even make you consider scientology – haha ok not really, but you get the point. Another bonus is the number of fresh faces in this film, some I am sure you will see again, and others that will enter into the realm of cult icons.

All and all I give the movie a 4/5 and would highly recommend seeing it.
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