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Tropic Thunder
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBen Stiller
Written byBen Stiller
Justin Theroux
Etan Cohen
Produced byStuart Cornfeld
Eric McLeod
Ben Stiller
StarringBen Stiller
Robert Downey, Jr.
Jack Black
Jay Baruchel
Brandon T. Jackson
Steve Coogan
Nick Nolte
Danny McBride
Matthew McConaughey
Tom Cruise
CinematographyJohn Toll
Edited byGreg Hayden
Music byTheodore Shapiro
Distributed byDreamWorks Pictures
Release dates
United States:
August 13, 2008
United Kingdom:
September 19, 2008
Running time
107 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$100[1]–150 million[2]
Box office$158,878,778

Tropic Thunder is a 2008 action comedy film produced and directed 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 decide to abandon them in the middle of the jungle, forcing them to fight their way out.

Stiller initially 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 deemed the largest film production in the island's history. Tropic Thunder had a large marketing promotion, including posting faux websites for the characters, fake films, and products shown within the film, showing numerous screenings, and selling the fictional energy drink advertised in the film.

The film met controversy among the disability advocacy community prior to its release on August 13, 2008. It received generally positive reviews with 83% 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 opening weekend and retained the number one position for its first three consecutive weekends of release. The film went on to gross over $150 million worldwide.

Plot

During the filming of Vietnam veteran John "Four Leaf" Tayback's (Nick Nolte) memoir Tropic Thunder, the stars—fading action star Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), five-time Academy Award-winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.), rap star Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), low-brow drug-addled comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), and character actor Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel)—behave unreasonably, resulting in a $4 million explosion going off with no cameras shooting. With filming a month behind schedule only five days into shooting, the media dubs the production "the most expensive war movie never made". Rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is ordered by studio executive Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) to get the production back on track or risk having it shut down.

With inspiration from Tayback, Cockburn drops the spoiled actors into the middle of the jungle, where he installs hidden cameras and special effect explosions rigged so he can film "guerrilla-style". The actors have only a map and a scene listing to guide them to the helicopter waiting at the end of the jungle. Shortly afterward, the director is blown up by a relict land mine left by the French, but only Lazarus realizes his death was real.

Unbeknownst to the actors, they are dropped in the middle of the Golden Triangle, the home of the heroin-producing Flaming Dragon gang. The Dragons believe the actors to be Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents. When Tayback and pyrotechnics man Cody Underwood (Danny R. McBride) attempt to locate the now-deceased director, they are captured by the drug producers, at which point Tayback is exposed as a fraud when the prosthetic hooks on his hands fall off. The actors continue to trek through the hostile jungle. After Lazarus and Sandusky discover that Speedman is leading them the wrong way, they split off from him with Portnoy and Chino, and leave Speedman continuing to follow the film's script while the others attempt to escape the jungle.

Speedman is captured and taken to the Flaming Dragon's heroin factory, which he initially believes to be a prisoner of war (POW) camp from the script. The gang soon realizes that he is the star of the box office bomb Simple Jack (the only movie they have, on VHS) and force him to reenact the film several times a day. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Speedman's agent, Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey), is trying to negotiate with an uninterested Grossman a to-date unfulfilled term in Speedman's contract that entitles him to a TiVo on location, when they are contacted by the Flaming Dragon gang and are asked for a ransom. Grossman instead curses out the gang, later telling Rick that they can benefit more by collecting the insurance claim on Speedman's death, offering the agent a share of the profits along with his own personal jet.

The other actors stumble upon the Flaming Dragon's heroin factory. After seeing Speedman being tortured, they plan an ambush based on the film's plot line. Lazarus impersonates a farmer who has caught Jeff in his farm, distracting the armed guards so Chino and Sandusky can sneak into the building where the captives are held. After the gang notices inconsistencies in Lazarus' story, the actors open fire on the gang, temporarily subduing them.

Portnoy, Sandusky, Chino, and Lazarus find Speedman and attempt an escape in Underwood and Tayback's recaptured helicopter. The gang quickly rejoins, crossing a bridge which is rigged to detonate by Underwood. Speedman asks to remain behind with 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 actors and crew escape from the jungle, the gang fires an rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at their helicopter. A disheveled 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, which ends up becoming a major box office hit and a multiple-Academy Award winner. The film breaks Speedman's streak of flops and he wins the award for Best Actor, presented to him by the previous year's Oscar winner, Kirk Lazarus.

Cast

  • Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman: The highest-paid, highest-grossing action star ever who likes to be pampered and who took a disastrous turn in an attempt to be a serious actor. He portrays Tugg Speedman in the film.
  • Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus: An Australian multiple Academy Award-winning method actor who portrays the African American character Sgt. Lincoln Osiris.
  • Jack Black as Jeff "Fats" Portnoy: A drug addicted comedian-turned-actor well known for playing multiple parts and frequent use of flatulence in films.
  • Nick Nolte as John "Four Leaf" Tayback: The author of Tropic Thunder, the novel for which the film-within-a-film is based on, who hatches the idea to drop the actors in the middle of the jungle.
  • Steve Coogan as Damien Cockburn: The director of the film based on Tayback's book.
  • Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky: A young, unknown actor who is the only one that read the script and book and attended a boot camp prior to the film.
  • Danny McBride as Cody Underwood: The special effects wizard behind the film.
  • Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino: A rapper who is attempting to cross over into acting. His energy drink, "Booty Sweat", appears several times in the film.
  • Bill Hader as Rob Slolom: Assistant and right hand man to Les Grossman.
  • Matthew McConaughey as Rick "Pecker" Peck: Tugg Speedman's agent.
  • Tom Cruise as Les Grossman: The foul mouthed executive behind Tropic Thunder.
  • Brandon Soo Hoo as Tran: The young leader of the Flaming Dragon gang.
  • Reggie Lee as Byong: The second-in-command of the Flaming Dragon gang.
  • Trieu Tran as Tru: A soldier in the Flaming Dragon gang.

Cameos

Casting

Downey, Jr.'s role of an Australian portraying an African American was created as a way of lampooning the great lengths that some method actors will go to depict a role.[3] Downey acknowledged the potential controversy over the 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."[3] When initially approached by Stiller about the part, Downey said on CBS's 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?"[4] 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."[5] Ben Stiller also commented on Downey, Jr.'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. Audiences that have seen it so far have totally embraced the character."[6] Stiller also previewed the film before several African American journalists and the NAACP who reacted positively to the character.[7] The script was initially written for Downey, Jr.'s character to be Irish, but was rewritten after Downey stated he could improvise better as Australian (he had previously played a similar comedic Australian character in the film Natural Born Killers).[8] In addition, Downey, Jr.'s practice of remaining in character off the film set was also written into the script for his character to perform as well.[7]

Cruise was initially going to cameo as Stiller's character's agent. Instead Cruise suggested creating a studio head position and it was reworked into the script. Stiller and Cruise worked together to create a middle-aged character that required a fat suit, fake large hands, and a fake bald wig.[8][9] Owen Wilson was then going to portray the agent, but after his suicide attempt in August 2007,[10] he was replaced by Matthew McConaughey.

Tom Cruise's role

Stiller had intended to keep Tom Cruise's role in the film as a fat, balding movie mogul a surprise. The film studio has refused to release pictures of Cruise's character as he appears in the film.[11] Images of Tom Cruise with a bald headpiece and in a fat suit appeared on Inside Edition, in November 2007,[12] and also appeared on the Internet.[13] Cruise's attorneys threatened a lawsuit if photos showing Cruise bald, bearded and wearing a fat suit were published.[14] 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."[15] The photo 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."[12][14] MTV News reported that "...reps are reportedly having the image of a fat, balding Cruise pulled from the Internet as quickly as sites can put it up."[16] The appearance and personality of the character is reportedly based in part on Stuart Cornfeld, Ben Stiller's producer partner of ten years.[17]

Production

Script

"No, I feel the tone of the movie is its own thing. I think there are elements of satire, but I don't think it should be categorized just as that. There are elements of parody in it, but obviously I don't think it's just that. I feel like hopefully it's its own thing, which has a lot of familiar stuff that we are playing off of."

—Ben Stiller, reacting to the film being called a spoof.[18]

Ben Stiller got the idea for the film while shooting Empire of the Sun (1987),[3] 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 taking part in fake boot camps to prepare for war film roles.[19][20] The film satirizes other Vietnam war films including Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, and The Deer Hunter, among others.[21] Co-writer Theroux revealed that the script was easier to write for viewers due to the increase of information that has been made available about Hollywood's inner workings from celebrity websites and Hollywood news sources.[20]

Filming

The film was greenlit by DreamWorks in 2006 and pre-production lasted for six months, with the majority of the time spent on scouting the locations for filming.[22][23] Although Southern California was initially suggested for filming, shooting for the film took place on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where Stiller has a home.[23] Additional filming took place in Los Angeles at Universal Studios in Hollywood.[23] The island was first scouted in 2004 by Stiller for more than 25 hours over six weeks, and was selected over filming in Mexico based on a tax credit for in-state spending that was negotiated with the Kauai Film Commission.[23][24]

Film set in Kauai in July 2007

The first major studio production on the island in five years, 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.[25][26][27] After filming was completed, it was determined that Tropic Thunder was the largest production ever filmed on the island.[23] 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."[25] Casting calls on the island sought 500 residents to portray the Vietnamese villagers in the film.[25]

The film advising company Warriors Inc. was used to ensure authenticity of the war scenes throughout the film, including the attire worn by the actors. Former U.S. military members taught the actors how to handle, fire, and reload the weapons along with tactical movements.[28] Filming the large napalm explosion in the opening scene of the film required a 450-foot (137-m) long row of explosive pots containing 1,100 gallons (4,165 liters) of gasoline and diesel fuel. Due to the size and cost of the explosion, it was only performed once, and the 1.25-second explosion was captured by eleven cameras.[28][29] The explosion was made up of 12 individual explosions and resulted in a mushroom cloud that reached 350 feet (107 m) in the air.[28][29]

Visual effects

The visual effects throughout the film were created by more than six companies working on different scenes and elements of the film. The companies ended up with around 500 shots of visual effects throughout the film, and were at times altered weekly due to the reactions of test audiences in screenings.[30] 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.[31] 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."[30]

Faux trailers

Prior to the film a faux commercial and several faux trailers are shown, in a similar matter to those shown prior to the 2007 film Grindhouse. The commercial depicts fictional rapper Alpa Chino promoting his two brands: the "Booty Sweat" energy drink and "Bust-A-Nut" candy bar. The first trailer shows Tugg Speedman's latest film, Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown. Another trailer is for Jeff Portnoy's film, The Fatties: Fart 2, which spoofs Eddie Murphy's portrayal of multiple characters such as in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.[22] The final trailer, entitled Satan's Alley, features Kirk Lazarus and MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss Winner Tobey Maguire (cameoing as himself) as two gay medieval priests in a parody of films like Brokeback Mountain and Wonder Boys.[32][33]

Promotion

A trailer for the film was released in April 2008, and the Calgary Herald gave it a rating of 3/5, commenting: "This could either be good or very, very bad."[34] The trailer received the "Best Comedy Trailer" award at the 9th annual Golden Trailer Awards.[35] The film's red band trailer was the first one ever used by DreamWorks to promote a film.[36]

Appearances

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

Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey, Jr. appeared on the seventh season finale of American Idol in a sketch (funded by themselves to charity) as The Pips performing with Gladys Knight, using archival footage of her.[37] 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. Afterwards, the three later appeared to present the "Best Movie" award.[37]

Since April 2008, the film has had more than 250 promotional screenings.[38] On August 3, 2008 Stiller, Black, and Downey, Jr. visited Camp Pendleton, a California Marine base, to present a screening to over a thousand military members and their families. The screening was on behalf of the USO and included the actors heading to the screening by helicopter and Humvees.[39] On August 8, 2008, a special 30-minute 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.[40][41]

In September 2008, Stiller and Downey, Jr. attended the San Sebastián International Film Festival to promote the film. A screening was shown, but was not chosen to compete against the other films at the festival. Stiller stated "Our movie's poster doesn't really fit in. But I don't see any reason why a comedy shouldn't be part of the festival."[42]

Faux websites and documentary

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 (see below). 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, which is a parody of Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse.[43][44] 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. The faux documentary included a movie poster and an official website prior to Tropic Thunder's release. The documentary was released on the iTunes Music Store after the film's release, and will be included on the DVD release.[18] Amy Powell, an advertising executive with Paramount, 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 Tropics' run — to keep this positive buzz going."[45]

Energy drink

As a tie-in for the film's release, Paramount announced that it would be marketing an energy drink known as "Booty Sweat" which is shown throughout the film. This is the first product to be released concurrently with a film's release, as other fictional products are usually released prior to or after the film has ended its theater run.[46] Michael Corcoran, the president of consumer products for Paramount Pictures commented on the release: "Not to my knowledge has this ever been done before. We're very excited, because it has the potential to live for quite a while, well beyond the film."[46] The drink is marketed in college bookstores, Amazon.com, and other retailers.[46]

Release

Premiere and release date

The film had its premiere on August 11, 2008 at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, two days before the film's release in theaters. More than 200 members of several disability groups picketed before the premiere, protesting the portrayal of mental retardation shown within the film (see related section below).[47] The groups revealed that it was the first time that they had ever protested together at an event.[47] As a result of the protest, the normally unobstructed views of the red carpet leading to the premiere was blocked off by 10-foot (3-m) high fences and there was an increase of security personnel present.[48] When the film had its premiere in the United Kingdom in September 2008, there were no protests held.[49]

The release date for the film's North American release was initially scheduled to be July 11, 2008 but was pushed back to August 15, before moving up two days earlier to August 13.[50] As a result of its move from July, 20th Century Fox moved its comedy film release Meet Dave in its place.[50] 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.[51] However, R-rated comedies such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) and Superbad (2007) 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?"[51]

Reception

The film has received mostly positive reviews. As of October 11, the film has an 83% positive rating based on 196 reviews from critics at the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.[52] At the website Metacritic, which utilizes a normalized rating system, the film earned a favorable rating of 71/100 based on 39 reviews.[53]

After attending an industry screening in April 2008 Michael Cieply from The New York Times is quoted as saying the film "...is shaping up as one of [DreamWorks]’s best prospects for the summer."[11] 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."[54] David Ansen of Newsweek commented on the faux trailers prior to the film in his review: "Tropic Thunder is the funniest movie of the summer — so funny, in fact, that you start laughing before the film itself has begun."[55]

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."[56] Rick Groen of 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."[57] 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."[58]

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 the 2006 film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which earned $129 million domestically and a total of $260 million worldwide.[36] Bob Thompson, a writer for the National Post, speculated that the film would outperform The Dark Knight which had been the number one film in domestic box office performance for the four weeks prior to the release of Tropic Thunder.[59] 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.[60]

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, both of which opened the same weekend.[61] It also ended the four-week streak of the number one film The Dark Knight. Reacting to the film's opening receipts, DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan stated "We're thrilled, quite frankly. It played out exactly how we hoped."[62] In foreign markets for the film's opening weekend, it was released in 418 Russian and 19 U.A.E. locations earning $2.2 million and $319,000, respectively.[63]

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.[64][65] The film's widest release was in 3,473 theaters, placing it at the 13th widest release in the U.S. for 2008.[61] For 2008, the film is the third highest grossing domestic R-rated film, following Sex and the City and Wanted.[66] The film grossed over $100 million domestically, becoming the first film Stiller directed to do so.[67] Tropic Thunder also became Stiller's sixth, and both Robert Downey, Jr. and Jack Black's second film to gross more than $100 million domestically in their careers.[68] As of October 11, the film has had gross receipts of $109,580,997 in the U.S. and $49,297,781 in international markets for a total of $158,878,778 worldwide.[61]

DVD

Tropic Thunder will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 18, 2008. Special features include an unrated cut of the film, audio commentaries, several featurettes, and a trailer for Rain of Madness.[69]

Controversy

A group protesting the film on August 11, 2008

Tropic Thunder has 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.[70] A spokesman for DreamWorks stated "We heard their concerns, and we understand that taken out of context, the site appeared to be insensitive to people with disabilities."[70] A coalition of more than 22 disability advocacy groups, including the Special Olympics and the Arc of the United States, object to the repeated use of the word "retard", which disability advocates call "the R-word" because of its negative connotations.[38] DreamWorks initially spoke of screening the film with the groups to determine if the film still offended the groups.[71][72] However, the screening was postponed to the same day of the premiere on August 11 instead of August 8.[73] After some representatives for the groups saw the private screening, they picketed outside the film's premiere.[74][75] 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."[76]

Disability advocates and others who have previewed the film reported that the offensive treatment of individuals with mental disabilities is woven throughout the film’s plot.[73] Disability advocates urged people not to see the film, claiming it is demeaning to individuals with mental disabilities and would encourage bullying.[77] Etan Cohen, the co-writer of the film, 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."[78] 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.[78] 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."[38] The film's advertising was altered, but none of the scenes in the film were edited as a result of the opposition.[38][75]

Soundtrack

Untitled
Untitled

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.[79] Four songs, Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones, For What it's Worth by Buffalo Springfield, Low by Flo Rida & 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 The Hollywood Studio Symphony. William Ruhlmann of allmusic called the score "...an affectionate and knowing satire of the history of Hollywood action movie music, penned by an insider."[80]

  1. "Name of the Game (The Crystal Method's Big A** 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, Pt. 1" 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 DuBois (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)

References

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  10. ^ "Owen Wilson comedy role is recast". BBC News. 2007-09-20. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
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  12. ^ a b Hazlett, Courtney (2007-11-18). "Tom Cruise's fat-suit fracas". MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
  13. ^ Silverman, Stephen M (2008-04-03). "Revealed: More Details on Tom Cruise's Cameo in Tropic Thunder". People. Time Inc. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
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External links

Fictional websites created for the film

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