Tropic Thunder

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Tropic Thunder
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ben Stiller
Produced by	Stuart Cornfeld Eric McLeod Ben Stiller
Written by	Ben Stiller Justin Theroux Etan Cohen
Starring	Ben Stiller Jack Black Robert Downey, Jr. Brandon T. Jackson Jay Baruchel Nick Nolte Tom Cruise Danny McBride Matthew McConaughey Steve Coogan Bill Hader
Music by	Theodore Shapiro
Cinematography	John Toll
Editing by	Greg Hayden
Studio	DreamWorks Pictures Red Hour Films
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	North America: August 13, 2008 Australia: August 21, 2008 United Kingdom: September 19, 2008
Running time	Theatrical Cut: 107 min. Director's Cut: 120 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$100[1]–150 million[2]
Gross revenue	$188,072,649

Tropic Thunder is a 2008 American action satire comedy film directed and produced by Ben Stiller and written by Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Etan Cohen. The film stars Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr. as a group of prima donna actors making a Vietnam War film when their fed-up writer and director decides to drop them in the middle of a jungle, forcing them to portray their roles without the comforts of a film set. The film was produced by DreamWorks and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Stiller had the idea for the film while playing a small part in Empire of the Sun and later brought on Theroux and Cohen to help him complete the script. After the film was greenlit in 2006, filming took place in 2007 on the Hawaiian island of Kauai over 13 weeks and was later deemed the largest film production in the island's history. Tropic Thunder had a massive marketing promotion, including posting faux websites for the characters and their fictional films, airing a fake television special, and selling the fictional energy drink advertised in the film, "Booty Sweat".

Released in the United States on August 13, 2008, it received generally good reviews with 82% of reviews positive and an average normalized score of 71%, according to the review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively. It earned $26 million in its North American opening weekend and retained the number one position for its first three weekends of release. The film grossed $180 million in theaters before its release on home video on November 18, 2008.

[edit] Plot

During the filming of Vietnam veteran John "Four Leaf" Tayback's memoir Tropic Thunder, the actors—fading action hero Tugg Speedman, five-time Academy Award-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus, rapper Alpa Chino, and drug-addicted comedian Jeff Portnoy—behave unreasonably (with the exception of newcomer supporting actor Kevin Sandusky). Production is going poorly: rookie director Damien Cockburn is unable to control the actors while filming a large war scene and just five days into shooting, filming is reported to be a month behind schedule. Cockburn is ordered by studio executive Les Grossman to get the production back on track or risk having it shut down.

Acting on Tayback's advice, Cockburn drops the actors into the middle of the jungle, where he has installed many hidden cameras and special-effect explosions rigged so he can film "guerrilla-style". The actors have guns that fire blanks, along with a map and a scene listing that will guide them to the helicopter waiting at the end of the jungle route. Unbeknownst to the actors and the production, the five actors have been dropped in the middle of the Golden Triangle, the home of the heroin-producing Flaming Dragon gang. Shortly after the group is dropped off, the actors are stunned to see Cockburn blown up by a land mine. Speedman, believing Cockburn faked his death, attempts to convince the other actors that it was a hoax. The gang, believing the actors are DEA agents, are about to ambush them. However, the actors scare away the gang as they aimlessly fire their guns and Speedman persuades Chino, Portnoy, and Sandusky that Cockburn is alive and that they are still shooting the film. Lazarus is unconvinced that Cockburn is alive, but joins the other actors in their trek through the jungle.

When Tayback and pyrotechnics operator Cody Underwood attempt to locate the now-dead director, they are captured by the gang, at which point Tayback is exposed as a fraud when Underwood pulls off his prosthetic hooks to reveal fully functioning arms. Meanwhile, the actors continue to forge through the hostile jungle. After Lazarus and Sandusky discover that Speedman is leading them in the wrong direction, the four actors, tired of walking through the jungle and hoping to be rescued, part ways from Speedman who leaves by himself to follow the film's scene listing.

The next day, Speedman is captured by several members of Flaming Dragon and is taken to their heroin factory. Believing it is the prisoner-of-war camp from the script, he continues to think he is being filmed. The gang discovers that he is the star of the box office bomb Simple Jack and force him to reenact it several times a day. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Speedman's agent, Rick Peck, is trying to negotiate with an uninterested Grossman an unfulfilled term in Speedman's contract that entitles him to a TiVo. Flaming Dragon calls the two and they demand a ransom from them, but Grossman instead curses out the gang. Despite the threats he made to the Flaming Dragon, Grossman then tells Rick that they can benefit more by collecting the insurance claim on Speedman's death, even offering the agent a share of the profits along with his own personal Gulfstream V.

Lazarus, Chino, Portnoy and Sandusky stumble upon Flaming Dragon's heroin factory. After seeing Speedman being tortured, they plan an ambush based on the film's script. Lazarus impersonates a farmer bringing in a captured Jeff, distracting the armed guards so Chino and Sandusky can sneak in to where the captives are held. After the gang notices inconsistencies in Lazarus' story, the actors open fire on the gang, temporarily subduing them. When the gang realizes that the suspected DEA agents are only actors using guns filled with blanks, they begin firing on the actors.

Chino, Portnoy, Sandusky, and Lazarus locate Speedman and attempt an escape in Underwood and Tayback's recaptured helicopter. After rejoining with Tayback and crossing a bridge that Underwood has previously rigged to detonate, they meet up with Underwood at the helicopter. Speedman asks to remain behind with the gang which he considers his "family", but he quickly returns with the murderous gang in hot pursuit. Tayback detonates the bridge just in time for Speedman to reach safety, but as the helicopter takes off, the gang fires an RPG at their helicopter. Rick unexpectedly stumbles out of the jungle carrying a TiVo box and throws it in the path of the RPG, saving them all. Footage from the hidden cameras is compiled into a feature film, Tropic Blunder, which ends up becoming a major critical and box office hit and a multiple-Academy Award winner.

[edit] Cast

• Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman: compared to a young Sylvester Stallone,^[3] he is the highest-paid, highest-grossing action star ever due to his Scorcher franchise. He now has a current reputation of appearing in nothing but box office bombs (similar to Stallone's experiences during the 1990s), and after a failed attempt at portraying a serious role in Simple Jack, he joins the cast of Tropic Thunder in an attempt to save his career, taking on the role of Four Leaf Tayback. There is tension between him and the more critically praised Kirk Lazarus throughout the film.
• Robert Downey, Jr. as Kirk Lazarus: an Australian multiple Academy Award-winning method actor, Lazarus had a controversial "pigmentation alteration" surgery to darken his skin for his portrayal of the African American character Sergeant Lincoln Osiris. Lazarus refuses to break character under any circumstances while filming and during the majority of the shoot and only speaks in his character's Black English, much to the annoyance of co-star and genuine African-American, Alpa Chino, who finds it racist. He suffers a brief breakdown during the rescue of Speedman when, in an intense argument, the unhinged Speedman causes Lazarus to believe that he is essentially nobody and that his method acting is his way of trying to create an identity for himself. Lazarus's Satan's Alley faux trailer, about two gay priests at an 18th century Irish monastery, parodies films like Brokeback Mountain and Downey's own scenes with Tobey Maguire in Wonder Boys.^[4][5]
• Jack Black as Jeff Portnoy: compared to Chris Farley,^[3] he is a drug-addicted comedian-actor well known for playing multiple parts and the frequent use of flatulence in films. In the film-within-a-film, he plays a raspy-voiced soldier named Fats. Portnoy's The Fatties: Fart 2 faux trailer, about a family (with each member played by Portnoy) which enjoys passing gas, spoofs Eddie Murphy's portrayal of multiple characters in films such as Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.^[6][7][8]
• Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky: a young, unknown actor who is the only one of the cast who has read the script and book and attended the assigned boot camp before the film, to play a young soldier named Brooklyn. He serves as the straight man, being the only actor without an internal conflict or insecurity.
• Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino: a rapper who is attempting to cross over into acting, portraying a soldier named Motown, while promoting his "Bust-A-Nut" candy bar and energy drink, "Booty Sweat". He accidentally reveals himself to be gay during a conversation with the other actors revealing he is dating Lance Bass. His name is a play on Al Pacino.^[9][10]
• Nick Nolte as John "Four Leaf" Tayback: the author of Tropic Thunder, a memoir of his war experiences on which the film-within-a-film is based, who hatches the idea to drop the actors in the middle of the jungle. When he is captured by the Flaming Dragon gang, it is revealed he lied about being a war veteran and losing his hands. Tayback claims he wrote the memoir as a tribute to the soldiers who served in the war.
• Tom Cruise as Les Grossman: the bald, burly, large handed, foul-mouthed and hot-headed studio executive behind Tropic Thunder.
• Danny McBride as Cody Underwood: the film's choleric explosives expert and helicopter pilot. He assists Tayback and Cockburn in dropping the actors into the jungle. He idolizes Tayback and is disillusioned and enraged when he discovers Tayback lied about his military service.
• Matthew McConaughey as Rick "Pecker" Peck: Tugg Speedman's extremely devoted agent and best friend.
• Steve Coogan as Damien Cockburn: the inexperienced British film director who is unable to control the actors in the film. After dropping them in the jungle to finish the film, he is killed when he steps on a land mine.
• Bill Hader as Rob Slolom: assistant and right-hand man to Les Grossman.
• Brandon Soo Hoo as Tran: the young leader of the Flaming Dragon gang. He was compared to Karen National Union guerrilla leaders Johnny and Luther Htoo.^[11]
• Reggie Lee as Byong: the second-in-command of the Flaming Dragon gang.
• Trieu Tran as Tru: another Flaming Dragon member who dresses in drag for the re-enactment of "Simple Jack" and remains such for the rest of his screen-time.

[edit] Cameos

Various actors and celebrities portray themselves, including Tobey Maguire, Tyra Banks, Maria Menounos, Martin Lawrence, Jason Bateman, Lance Bass, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sean Penn, Tom Hanks, Alicia Silverstone, Christopher Meloni, The Mooney Suzuki, and Jon Voight. Christine Taylor, Mini Anden, Anthony Ruivivar, and Yvette Nicole Brown have roles as minor characters in the film. Justin Theroux, the writer of the film, appears in two brief roles as a helicopter gunner and a DJ (shown in a deleted scene).^[12][13]

[edit] Production

[edit] Script

Stiller developed the premise for the film while shooting Empire of the Sun,^[15] in which he played a small part. Stiller wanted to make a film based on the actors he knew who considered themselves "self-important" after they took part in fake boot camps to prepare for war film roles.^[16][17] Co-writer Theroux revealed that the initial concept for the film was to have actors go to a mock boot camp and return with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.^[18] The film satirizes Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, The Deer Hunter, and other Vietnam War films.^[19][20] Theroux claimed that the script was easier to write for viewers due to the increase in information available about Los Angeles, and Hollywood's inner workings from celebrity websites and Hollywood news sources.^[17] In addition, dialogue for unscripted portions of the storyboard was developed on set by the actors or was improvised.^[21]

[edit] Casting

Etan Cohen created the role of Kirk Lazarus as a way of lampooning the great lengths that some method actors go to depict a role.^[15][22] Downey was approached by Stiller about the part while on vacation in Hawaii.^[23] Downey said on CBS' The Early Show that his first reaction was, "This is the stupidest idea I've ever heard!" and that Stiller responded, "Yeah I know—isn't it great?"^[24] Downey said in another interview that he accepted the part but, having no idea where or even how to start building the character of Osiris, eventually settled on a jive-esque speech pattern and a gruff, ragged bass voice; he then auditioned Lazarus' voice over the phone to Stiller, who approved the characterization immediately.^[5] Downey revealed that he modelled the character on actors Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell, and Daniel Day-Lewis.^[25] The script was initially written for Downey's character to be Irish, but was rewritten after Downey stated he could improvise better as Australian (he had previously played a similar outlandish Australian character in the film Natural Born Killers).^[26] In addition, Downey's practice of remaining in character between takes and even off the film set was also written into the script for his character to perform as well.^[27] Downey required between one and a half to two hours of make-up application to portray the African American character.^[28][29] According to Downey, "One makeup artist would start on one side of my face and a second makeup artist would start on the other side, and then they'd meet in the middle."^[29]

Downey (top) shown by his character Kirk Lazarus and Cruise (bottom) shown with his character Les Grossman. To portray their respective characters, Downey required two hours of make-up application and Cruise used a fatsuit, fake large hands, and a bald cap.

Downey acknowledged the potential controversy over his role: "At the end of the day, it's always about how well you commit to the character. If I didn't feel it was morally sound, or that it would be easily misinterpreted that I'm just C. Thomas Howell [in Soul Man], I would've stayed home."^[15] Brandon T. Jackson, who portrays Alpa Chino in the film, stated: "When I first read the script, I was like: What? Black face? But when I saw him [act] he, like, became a black man ... It was just good acting. It was weird on the set because he would keep going with the character. He's a method actor."^[30] Stiller also commented on Downey's portrayal of a white actor playing a black man: "When people see the movie – in the context of the film, he’s playing a method actor who’s gone to great lengths to play an African American. The movie is skewering actors and how they take themselves so seriously."^[31] Stiller also previewed the film before several African American journalists and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, who reacted positively to the character.^[27]

Serving as a last-minute replacement, Tobey Maguire was only available to be on set for two hours to film his scenes in Satan's Alley.^[32] Downey said he was amazed Maguire would agree to do the movie and felt like they were creating a karmic pay-off for their scenes together in the 2000 film Wonder Boys, where Downey's gay literary agent Terry Crabtree has a one-night-stand with Maguire's sexually ambiguous college student James Leer^[5]. Despite the rushed schedule around shooting Downey and Maguire's Satan's Alley scenes, Downey said the two of them quickly connected:

Cruise was initially set to cameo as Stiller's character's agent, Rick Peck. Instead, Cruise suggested adding a studio head character to the film, and it was worked into the script. Stiller and Cruise worked together to create the new character, Les Grossman, as a middle-aged businessman whose appearance and personality was reportedly based in part on Stuart Cornfeld, Ben Stiller's producer partner of ten years.^[33] That resemblance led to Cruise donning a fatsuit, fake large hands, and a bald cap for the role.^[26][34] It was Cruise's idea to give the character large hands, and to dance to "Get Back by Ludacris". ^[35].

Stiller intended to keep Cruise's role a secret until the film's release. In addition, Paramount Pictures refused to release promotional pictures to the media of Cruise's character as he appears in the film.^[36] However, in November 2007, images of Cruise wearing a bald headpiece and a fatsuit appeared on Inside Edition, as well as on the Internet.^[37][38] Cruise's attorneys threatened a lawsuit if photos showing Cruise in costume were published.^[39] They approached various sites that were hosting the image and quickly had it removed.^[40] A representative for Cruise stated: "Mr. Cruise's appearance was supposed to be a surprise for his fans worldwide. Paparazzi have ruined what should have been a fun discovery for moviegoers."^[41] The photography agency INF, who first debuted the image, responded with a statement: "While these pictures were taken without breaking any criminal or civil laws, we've decided to pull them from circulation effective immediately."^[37][39]

After Cruise vacated the role of Rick Peck, Owen Wilson was cast to play the part. However, Wilson dropped out of the film following his attempted suicide in August 2007^[42] and was replaced by Matthew McConaughey.

[edit] Filming

Although Southern California and Mexico were suggested for the main unit filming, shooting was on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where Stiller has a home.^[43] Filming for the Los Angeles and interior scenes took place at sets at Universal Studios in Hollywood.^[43] Kauai was selected over filming in Mexico based on a tax credit for in-state spending that was negotiated with the Kauai Film Commission.^[44] John Toll, the cinematographer, stated Kauai was also selected for its similarity to Vietnam based on its dense foliage, variety of terrains, and weather.^[45] Kauai was first scouted as a possible location to film Tropic Thunder in 2004. Stiller spent more than 25 hours over six weeks exploring the island, using ATVs, boats, and helicopters.^[43][46] When the film was greenlit by DreamWorks in 2006, pre-production lasted for six months, with the majority of the time spent on scouting additional locations for filming.^[6][43]

Film set in Kauai in September 2007

The film was the first major studio production on the island in five years and after filming was completed, it was determined that Tropic Thunder was the largest production filmed on the island to date.^[43] Tim Ryan, the executive editor of Hawaii Film & Video Magazine, commented on the filming on the island: "I think Tropic Thunder will give Kaua‘i much needed and long idled publicity in the production arena ... It should put Kaua‘i back on the production consideration radar."^[47] Preliminary production crews were on the island starting in December 2006 and principal photography began in July 2007, with filming lasting 13 weeks over seven separate locations on the island.^[19][47][48] Two units shot simultaneously on the island from the ground, and an aerial unit shot from helicopters.^[49] Many of the sets and the bridge used for one of the final scenes were all built in three months.^[50] Due to the island's erratic weather, filming was constantly hindered by rain and lighting issues.^[51][52] In addition, the crew faced complications in moving the equipment and cast due to the difficult terrain.^[45] Casting calls on the island sought 500 residents to portray the villagers in the film.^[47]

The film advising company Warriors Inc. was enlisted to ensure authenticity of the war scenes, including the attire worn by the actors. Former U.S. military members taught the actors how to handle, fire, and reload the weapons, as well as various tactical movements.^[53] The opening war scene was filmed over three weeks and required fifty stuntmen.^[54][55] Animatics were used to map out the necessary camera angles for filming.^[56]

[edit] Effects

Filming the large napalm explosion in the opening scene of the film required a 450-foot (137-meter) long row of explosive pots containing 1,100 gallons (4,165 liters) of gasoline and diesel fuel. All of the palm trees used in the explosion were moved to the specific location after the crew determined the impact of the lighting and necessary camera angles.^[57] Due to the size and cost of the 1.25-second explosion, it was only performed once and was captured by twelve cameras.^[53][58][59] For the safety of the crew members and cast, the detonators were added one hour prior to the explosion and nobody was allowed to be within 400 feet (120 m) of the explosion.^[60][61] The explosion was made up of 12 individual explosions and resulted in a mushroom cloud that reached 350 feet (110 m) in the air.^[53][58] For the scene in the film, Danny McBride's character, Cody Underwood, was the only actor shown in the shot of the explosion. All of the other characters were added digitally.^[62] The explosion of the bridge near the end of the film used nine cameras to capture the shot, and for the safety of the crew, they were required to be 3,000 feet (910 m) away.^[55]

The visual effects were created by six companies working on different scenes and elements. The companies created 500 shots of visual effects and were at times altered weekly due to the reactions of test audiences in screenings.^[63] CIS Visual Effects Group, one of the visual effects companies, assisted with the Scorcher VI faux trailer and twenty additional shots for the DVD release.^[64] In order to add comedy to the film, some of the explosions and crashes were embellished to look more extreme than what would have actually occurred. The visual effects supervisor Michael Fink reflected on the exaggerated explosions: "We worked really hard to make the CG crashing helicopter in the hot landing sequence look real. Ben was adamant about that, but at the same time he wanted the explosion to be huge. When you see it hit the ground, it was like it was filled with gasoline! It was the same thing with Ben's sergeant character, who almost intercepts a hand grenade...Now, I was in the Army for three years and no hand grenade would make an explosion like that... But it was a big dramatic moment and it looks really cool...and feels kind of real."^[63]

[edit] Promotion

A trailer for the film was released in April 2008. The Calgary Herald gave it a rating of 3/5, commenting: "This could either be good or very, very bad."^[65] The trailer received the "Best Comedy Trailer" award at the 9th annual Golden Trailer Awards.^[66] DreamWorks also released a red band trailer, the first of its kind used by the studio to promote one of its films.^[67]

[edit] Appearances

Stiller signing autographs prior to a screening at Camp Pendleton on August 3, 2008

Stiller, Black, and Downey appeared on the seventh season finale of American Idol in a sketch as The Pips performing with Gladys Knight by using archival footage of her.^[68] The three actors also later performed a sketch at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards which featured the actors attempting to create a successful viral video to promote the film, with awkward results.^[68]

Between April 2008 and the film's commercial release in August 2008, the film had 250 promotional screenings.^[69] On August 3, 2008 Stiller, Black, and Downey visited Camp Pendleton, a California Marine Corps base, to present a screening to over a thousand military members and their families. The screening was on behalf of the United Service Organizations and included the actors heading to the screening by helicopter and Humvees.^[70] On August 8, 2008, a special 30-minute E! True Hollywood Story aired about the making of Tropic Thunder. In video games, a themed scavenger hunt was incorporated into Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and Stiller gave the approval for allowing his likeness to be used in the online Facebook application game based on the film.^[71][72]

In September 2008, Stiller and Downey attended the San Sebastián International Film Festival to promote the film. A screening was shown, but it was not chosen to compete against the other films at the festival.^[73]

[edit] Faux websites and mockumentary

Several faux websites were created for the main characters and some of their prior film roles. A website for Simple Jack, a faux film exhibited within the film, was removed by DreamWorks on August 4, due to protests from disability advocates.^[74] In addition, other promotional websites were created for "Make Pretty Skin Clinic", the fictional company that performed the surgery of the film's character Kirk Lazarus, along with one for the energy drink "Booty Sweat".

In mid-July 2008, a faux trailer for the mockumentary Rain of Madness was released. The mockumentary was a parody of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse.^[75] It follows co-writer Justin Theroux as a fictional documentarian named Jan Jürgen documenting the behind-the-scenes aspects of the film within the film. Marketing for the faux documentary included a movie poster and an official website prior to Tropic Thunder's release. The mockumentary was released on the iTunes Store after the film's release and was also included on the home video release.^[76] Amy Powell, an advertising executive with Paramount Pictures, reflected on the timing of the release of Madness: "We always thought that people would be talking about Tropic Thunder at the water cooler, and that's why we decided to release Rain of Madness two weeks into Tropic 's run — to keep this positive buzz going."^[77]

[edit] Energy drink

As a tie-in for the film's release, Paramount Pictures announced it would market the energy drink known as "Booty Sweat" in the film.^[78] Michael Corcoran, Paramount's president of consumer products, commented on the release: "We're very excited, because it has the potential to live for quite a while, well beyond the film."^[78] The drink is sold in college bookstores, on Amazon.com, and at other retailers.^[78]

[edit] Release

[edit] Theatrical release

The film premiered on August 11, 2008, at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, California, two days before release in theaters. Members of several disability groups picketed before the premiere, protesting the portrayal of mental retardation shown within the film.^[79] The groups revealed that it was the first time that they had ever protested together at an event.^[79] As a result of the protest, the normally unobstructed views of the red carpet leading to the premiere were blocked off by 10-foot (3-meter)-high fences and there was an increase of security personnel present.^[80] When the film had its premiere in the United Kingdom in September 2008, there were no protests held.^[81]

The North American release was scheduled for July 11, 2008, but was pushed back to August 15, before moving up two days earlier to August 13.^[82] As a result of its move from July, 20th Century Fox moved its family comedy Meet Dave in its place.^[82] The release date also shares the opening weekends for Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Mirrors. Studios consider the third week of August to be a weaker performing period than earlier in the summer due to students returning to school.^[83] However, R-rated comedies such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Superbad were released in mid-August and performed well at the box office. Reacting to Tropic Thunder's release date, Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, stated: "For a young person at the end of summer, you want to have some fun and forget about going back to school. What better than a crazy comedy?"^[83]

[edit] Reception

The film has received mostly positive reviews. As of June 5, 2009 the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 82% of critics gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 216 reviews, with an average score of 7/10.^[84] At the website Metacritic, which utilizes a normalized rating system, the film earned a favorable rating of 71/100 based on 39 reviews by mainstream critics.^[85]

After attending an industry screening in April 2008 Michael Cieply from The New York Times stated that the film was "... shaping up as one of [DreamWorks]’s best prospects for the summer."^[36] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film a positive review, writing "There are some wildly funny scenes, a few leaden ones and others that are scattershot, with humorous satire undercut by over-the-top grisliness. Still, when it's funny, it's really funny."^[86]

The faux trailers prior to the film were also focused on by critics. David Ansen of Newsweek approved of the trailers, writing "Tropic Thunder is the funniest movie of the summer — so funny, in fact, that you start laughing before the film itself has begun."^[87] Robert Wilonsky of The Village Voice was critical, saying that the trailers "... resides in the land of the obvious, easy chuckle."^[88]

The cast received various critical reception. Downey was praised by many critics, claiming that he "stole the show", was "... off-the-charts hilarious ...", and would bring viewers "... the fondest memories of [his] work."^[89][90][91] Scott Feinberg, blogging for the Los Angeles Times, criticized the concept of Downey's portrayal of an African-American, writing "... I just can't imagine any circumstance under which a blackface performance would be acceptable, any more than than I can imagine any circumstance under which the use of the N-word would be acceptable."^[92] Sara Vilkomerson said Cruise did "... an astonishingly funny and surprising supporting performance."^[93] Logan Hill of New York argued against Cruise's cameo saying that it "... just makes him look a little lost and almost pathetic — shucking and jiving, trying to appeal to the younger moviegoers who are abandoning him."^[94]

Several critics commented on the controversy over lines in the film talking about the mentally disabled. Duane Durek of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote that the film "... is just sophomoric enough to offend. And while it is also funny, it is without the empathy or compassion to cause us to wonder why we are laughing."^[95] Christian Toto of The Washington Times argued against the opposition, "Tropic Thunder is drawing fire from special interest groups for ... its frequent use of the word 'retard', but discerning audiences will know where the humor is targeted. And they’ll be laughing too hard to take offense."^[96] Kurt Loder of MTV contrasted the opposition to the lines with Downey character portrayal of an African American, "The scene in which the derisive Alpa Chino [Brandon T. Jackson] nails Lazarus’ recitation of black-uplift homilies as nothing more than the lyrics to the Jeffersons theme is funny; but the one in which Lazarus quietly explains to Speedman that his Simple Jack character failed because he made the mistake of going 'full retard' — rather than softening his character with cuteness in the manner of Forrest Gump — is so on-the-nose accurate, it takes your breath away."^[97]

A review in Variety by Todd McCarthy was critical, with McCarthy commenting: "Apart from startling, out-there comic turns by Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise, however, the antics here are pretty thin, redundant and one-note."^[98] Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail gave the film a negative review, calling it "... an assault in the guise of a comedy — watching it is like getting mugged by a clown."^[99] J.R. Jones of Chicago Reader stated "The rest of the movie never lives up to the hilarity of the opening, partly because the large-scale production smothers the gags but mostly because those gags are so easy to smother."^[100]

[edit] Critics' lists

Entertainment Weekly included Tropic Thunder in its list "25 Great Comedies From the Past 25 Years" for its "spot-on skewering of Hollywood."^[101] The film also appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.^[102] Stephen King, placed it at the fourth position, calling the film "the funniest, most daring comedy of the year."^[103] The Oregonian's Marc Mohan, placed it sixth, and several critics placed it seventh: Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News, Premiere magazine, Mike Russell of The Oregonian, as well as Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle.^[102] David Ansen of Newsweek placed it eighth and Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly included the film in the tenth position.^[102] Movie City News shows that the film appeared in 27 different top ten lists out of 286 critics lists surveyed. It received the 35th most mentions on a top ten list of the films released in 2008.^[104]

[edit] Box office performance

Stacey Snider, the chief executive of DreamWorks, suggested that the film would earn around $30 million in its opening weekend and go on to be as successful as Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which earned $129 million domestically and a total of $260 million worldwide.^[67] The Dark Knight had been the number one film in domestic box office performance for the four weeks prior to the release of Tropic Thunder. Bob Thompson, a writer for the National Post, speculated that the film would outperform The Dark Knight for Tropic Thunder's opening weekend.^[105] In a list compiled prior to the summer's film releases, Entertainment Weekly predicted that the film would be the tenth highest domestic grossing film of the summer with $142.6 million.^[106]

Tropic Thunder opened in 3,319 theaters and, for its first five days of domestic release, earned $36,845,588. The film placed first in the weekend's box office with $25,812,796, surpassing Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Mirrors, which opened the same weekend.^[107] Reacting to the film's opening receipts, DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan stated "We're thrilled, quite frankly. It played out exactly how we hoped."^[108] In foreign markets for the film's opening weekend, it was released in 418 Russian and 19 United Arab Emirates locations earning $2.2 million and $319,000, respectively.^[109]

The film maintained its number one position at the domestic box office for the following two weekends, making it the second film in 2008 (after The Dark Knight) to hold the number-one position for more than two consecutive weekends.^[110][111] The film's widest release was in 3,473 theaters, placing it in the top 25 widest releases in the U.S. for 2008.^[107] For 2008, the film is the third-highest-grossing domestic R-rated film, following Sex and the City and Wanted.^[112] The film's domestic gross of over $110 million made Tropic Thunder Stiller's most successful film as a director.^[113] The film has had gross receipts of $110,515,313 in the U.S. and Canada and $77,541,212 in international markets for a total of $188,056,525 worldwide.^[107]

[edit] Awards

In October 2008, Paramount Pictures chose to put end-of-year award push funds behind Tropic Thunder, and began advertising for Downey to receive a nomination by the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor.^[115] In a November 2008 issue by Entertainment Weekly, Downey's film role was considered one of the three contenders for Best Supporting Actor.^[116] As a way of extending the film-within-a-film "universe" into real life, there have also been at least two online "For Your Consideration" ads touting Downey's character, Kirk Lazarus, for Best Supporting Actor; one of these contains "scenes" from Satan's Alley that were not in the trailer as released in theaters. At least one of the ads was produced by Paramount Pictures and intended for early For Your Consideration awareness for Downey's role.^[117] On January 22, 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated Downey for Best Supporting Actor.^[118] At the 81st Academy Awards, Downey lost to Heath Ledger.^[119]

With the onset of the annual Hollywood film award season at the end of 2008, Tropic Thunder began picking up nominations and awards beginning with a win for "Hollywood Comedy of the Year Award" at the 12th annual Hollywood Film Festival on October 27, 2008.^[120][121] The film was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical, for the Satellite Awards. In addition, Downey was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.^[122] The Broadcast Film Critics Association nominated Downey for Best Supporting Actor and awarded Tropic Thunder Best Comedy Movie at the BFCA's Critics' Choice Awards.^[123] Both Downey and Cruise received nominations by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actor.^[124] The Boston Society of Film Critics recognized the cast with its Best Ensemble award.^[125] Downey was also nominated by both the Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for Best Supporting Actor awards.^[126][127]

[edit] Home video

This Kauai film set was used for a deleted scene featured in the director's cut of the film

Tropic Thunder was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 18, 2008, in the U.S., three months after its release and a week after the end of its domestic theater run.^[107] The film was released on home video on January 26, 2009 in the United Kingdom. Special features include an unrated director's cut of the film, audio commentaries (including one featuring Stiller, Black, and Downey, with Downey providing his commentary as Lincoln Osiris, a nod to a joke in the film that Lazarus never breaks character until he completes the DVD commentary), several featurettes, deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and the Rain of Madness mockumentary.^{[128][129][130]}

For the film's first week of release, Tropic Thunder placed on several video charts. It reached second place on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart and Nielsen's Blu-ray Disc chart, earning $19,064,959 (not including Blu-ray sales).^[131] In rentals, it placed first on the Home Media Magazine's video rental chart.^[128] For the film's first ten weeks of release, DVD sales totaled $46,534,113.^[131] The DVD sales in 2008 totaled $42,271,059, placing it in 28th for DVD sales for 2008.^[132]

[edit] Controversy

A group protesting the film on August 11, 2008

Tropic Thunder caused controversy in the disability advocacy community. A website for Simple Jack, a faux film exhibited within the film, was pulled on August 4 amid several groups' concerns over its portrayal of mental retardation, called "intellectual disabilities" by disability advocacy groups.^[74] A spokesman for DreamWorks said, "We heard their concerns, and we understand that taken out of context, the site appeared to be insensitive to people with disabilities."^[74] A coalition of more than 22 disability advocacy groups, including the Special Olympics and the Arc of the United States, objected to the repeated use of the word "retard", which disability advocates call "the R-word" because of its negative connotations.^[69] DreamWorks initially spoke of screening the film with the groups to determine if the film still offended the groups.^[133][134] However, the screening was postponed to the same day of the premiere on August 11 instead of August 8.^[135] After some representatives for the groups saw the private screening, they picketed outside the film's premiere.^[136][137] Timothy Shriver, the chairman of the Special Olympics, stated, "This population struggles too much with the basics to have to struggle against Hollywood. We're sending a message that this hate speech is no longer acceptable."^[138]

Disability advocates and others who previewed the film reported that the offensive treatment of individuals with mental disabilities is woven throughout the film’s plot.^[135] Disability advocates urged people not to see the film, claiming it is demeaning to individuals with mental disabilities and would encourage bullying.^[139][140] Stiller defended the film, stating "We screened the movie so many times and this didn't come up until very late ... It's about actors and self-importance. I think the context of the movie it's pretty clear."^[141] Co-writer Etan Cohen claimed, "Some people have taken this as making fun of handicapped people, but we're really trying to make fun of the actors who use this material as fodder for acclaim."^[142] He went on to state that the film lampoons actors such as Dustin Hoffman and Tom Hanks, who portrayed mentally retarded characters in Rain Man and Forrest Gump, respectively.^[142] A DreamWorks spokesman did not directly respond to the criticism, stating that the film "... is an R-rated comedy that satirizes Hollywood and its excesses, makes its point by featuring inappropriate and over-the-top characters in ridiculous situations."^[69] The film's advertising was altered, but none of the scenes in the film were edited as a result of the opposition.^[69][137] In response to the controversy, the director's cut of the DVD (not the Blu-ray) includes a public service announcement that discourages use of the word "retard".^[143]

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack and score for Tropic Thunder were released on August 5, 2008, the week before the film's release. The soundtrack features songs from The Temptations, MC Hammer, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Edwin Starr, and other artists. The single "Name of the Game" by The Crystal Method featuring Ryu has an exclusive remix on the soundtrack.^[144] Four songs, "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones, "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield, "Low" by Flo Rida and T-Pain, and "Get Back" by Ludacris, did not appear in the soundtrack, yet did appear in the film. The score was composed by Theodore Shapiro and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. The soundtrack debuted 20th on Billboard's Top Soundtracks list and peaked at 39th on its Top Independent Albums list.^[145] William Ruhlmann of allmusic called the score "... an affectionate and knowing satire of the history of Hollywood action movie music, penned by an insider."^[146]

1. "Name of the Game (The Crystal Method's Big Ass T.T. Mix)" by The Crystal Method (5:11)
2. "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" by The Temptations (4:08)
3. "Run Through the Jungle" by Creedence Clearwater Revival (3:05)
4. "Sadeness (Part I)" by Enigma (4:13)
5. "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer (4:14)
6. "Ready Set Go" by Ben Gidsjoy (5:00)
7. "I Just Want to Celebrate" by The Mooney Suzuki (3:51)
8. "I'd Love to Change the World" by Ten Years After (3:43)
9. "The Pusher" by Steppenwolf (5:48)
10. "Movin' on Up" by Ja'net Du Bois (1:08)
11. "Frankenstein" by The Edgar Winter Group (4:45)
12. "Sometimes When We Touch" by Dan Hill (4:08)
13. "War" by Edwin Starr (3:47)
14. "I Love Tha Pussy" by Brandon T. Jackson (3:23)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Film portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Tropic Thunder

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tropic Thunder

• Tropic Thunder official site
• Rain of Madness official site
• Tropic Thunder at the Internet Movie Database
• Tropic Thunder at Allmovie
• Tropic Thunder at Rotten Tomatoes
• Tropic Thunder at Box Office Mojo

Fictional websites created for the film

• Tugg Speedman
• Kirk Lazarus
• Jeff Portnoy
• Alpa Chino
• Panda Relocation Foundation
• Make Pretty Skin Clinic