Thursday, December 25, 2008

DVD Review: Tropic Thunder

ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS PARODY/SATIRE!!!

This is a brilliant film, anchored by strong performances by Ben Stiller as fading action star Tugg Speedman, Jack Black as drug-addled comedy star Jeff Portnoy and especially the strong performance of Robert Downey Jr. as method actor Kirk Lazarus, who actually plays an African-American character named Sergeant Osiris, and stays in character even off set. They are filming the story of Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte) who is not all he seems to be, and is working with a special-effects pyrotechnics guy on the film based on Tayback's book, titled Tropic Thunder. The other two actors, rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) are playing different characters as well, but the group of actors gets more than they bargained for when they run into real-life drug runner Vietnamese thugs, led by a child. Speedman is captured by the thugs, which prompts the other actors to mount a rescue operation. Tom Cruise (who is essentially unrecognizable in prosthetic makeup) also co-stars as producer Les Grossman, in a hilarious star turn, as well as Matthew McConaughey as Speedman's agent Rick "Pecker" Peck. This is a hilarious "movie-within-a-movie" which really scores on all fronts. 5 Stars!!!!!! 

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