Fellman's Movie Reviews

What’s it about? 

Tropic Thunder is a movie about a war movie being made that goes awry because the actors are all Primadonna’s and can’t be controlled on the set. That’s the short version of it. But when you get more in depth, it has a lot more themes in it that make the movie much better than can just be described on paper. First off, this movie could never be made today, because of Robert Downey jr., doing blackface to play his character. That would be so offensive to people nowadays that they would likely boycott the movie to save people’s feelings or something. The word “nigger” is used in the film. Somebody would have something to say about that. It’s a very vulgar and offensive movie to say the least. Nonetheless, I think it’s hilarious and just the kind of comedy that is worth watching. All of the actors go to Vietnam to make a movie about the war based on a book written by a survivor of the conflict, “Four Leaf” Tayback. He advises the director that to get a good movie, he has to leave his spoiled actors out in the real wilderness and get actual reaction shots of them surviving in the jungle. They don’t know that there is an actual drug cartel out in the same jungle and they get caught interacting with them, leading to disaster. With hilarity and craziness all along the way… 

What’s good? 

The dialogue in this movie is pure genius. And the interaction between some of the greatest comedic actors of our time are some of the funniest scenes ever. I can watch this movie over and over and never get tired of it.  

What’s bad? 

I honestly can’t think of a whole lot that’s bad about this movie. It’s all around just a great movie. If comedy is your genre, and it is mine, this should be one of your top tier movies. 

The acting? 

The acting is great by everybody. Especially, (and I can’t believe I’m saying this), especially by Tom Cruise. I really think Tom Cruise is acting in the wrong genre. He is an amazing comedic actor. I know he’s popular action. And congratulations. But there’s this deadpan style about him and the character that he plays, that he just makes this character so great. 

The effects? 

It’s an action, war movie. There’s explosions and green screen effects all over the place. Things are blowing up. Guns are going off. Helicopters are flying in and dropping bombs on tree lines. Yeah, the effects are good. There’s a part where the director gets blown up and Ben Stiller is holding his head and it looks like an 80’s prop, but that’s the only part that’s really not done well. 

The opening previews. 

Before the movie starts, each of the actors has a preview of their own movie that’s coming out that shows their own acting style. Tugg Speedman shows his “Scorcher” movies. Jeff Portnoy shows his “Fatties” sequel”. Kirk Lazarus shows off his Academy award winning movie “Satan’s Alley”. And Alpa Chino has a music video for his energy drink “Booty Sweat”. Setting the stage for their characters, before you get into the actual movie, so you know who they already are.  

Toby McGuire is just Toby McGuire. 

In Kirk Lazarus’ movie “Satan’s Alley”, Tobey McGuire isn’t another actor like everybody else in the movie. He’s just Tobey McGuire. Instead of making up some other character like the other people, they just put him in the film with Kirk Lazarus. 

Why is Fats trying to save him? 

In the scene they’re shooting in Tropic Thunder, the guy next to Fats gets shot in the head and he’s literally spraying blood like a hose out of the hole in his forehead, and Fats is still trying to save him. Like, he’s dead. I don’t think you can save him at that point… 

Tugg gets shot like 30 times. 

When Tugg is running back to the chopper in the final dramatic scene of the filming of Tropic Thunder, he gets shot like 30 times. You want to talk about suspension of disbelief. I can see taking a hit or two. But getting shredded like Swiss cheese and still making your way to the helicopter? That seems like a bit much. 

Tugg straight up ruins the shot. 

The shot was going great and Tugg just flat out ruined it. If he was a real actor, he could have just ran with it and given it some sort of performance. But he just quit. He was the reason everything went wrong. They totally had every right to blame him for ruining the shot. 

Matthew McConaughey makes a great agent. 

I don’t know what it is, but Matthew McConaughey just seems to make a great agent for some reason. He has the personality that makes you think “this guy seems like he wants to help…” 

He starts looking at this giant book of naked women. 

Matthew McConaughey’s assistant just hands him this book of black and white pictures of naked women with huge tits and he just starts leafing through it for no reason, and it’s just like “what is he even looking at?” There’s no context there. He’s just looking at a book full of naked women for no reason at all. I’m not knocking it. I’m just wondering why is all. 

Why is the TiVo so important? 

Why is the TiVo so important to Pecker? Why is he so insistent that Tugg gets his TiVo set up? Tugg isn’t even that interested in it. But Pecker is all about that TiVo getting installed in Tugg’s room. He keeps asking him about it. Like it’s on the forefront of his mind. 

Who are all of these partying people off-set when they’re not shooting?  

Is it in the budget to have a non-stop party going? Where did these people come from? Aren’t they in the middle of the jungle? How did those people get there? Who’s paying for this party? It seems to me that you could really reduce the budget of the movie if you cut out the non-stop party that goes on every night. 

Tom Cruise is great. 

I don’t like Tom Cruise in much. I don’t like Tom Cruise in anything. I’ve never thought he was much of an actor. But he was really funny in this. I think Tom Cruise missed his calling by doing action films instead of doing comedy. I mean, I know he’s super popular as an action star, so he didn’t really miss anything. But I just think he’s a much better comedic actor than he is a serious actor.  

Fats keeps going off to do heroin. 

Fats keeps slipping off into the trees to do heroin while everybody else is talking, and nobody notices or says anything. And then when he admits that his “jellybeans” were drugs to Sandusky, Sandusky is just like “yeah, I know…” 

Do they have real bullets in their guns? 

They’re all in the middle of that clearing, shooting into the tree line, and shooting into the air, do they have real bullets in their guns? Are they in the line of sight of each other? Do they know anything about gun safety at all? I wonder if those are blanks in those assault rifles they’re carrying? 

Never go full retard. 

Another of the offensive parts of the movie that would probably get it blocked by today’s standards. When Kirk Lazarus tells Tugg Speedman “never go full retard”. I think it’s one of the best scenes of the movie. He explains the difference between “Rainman”, “Forrest Gump”, and “Shine”. And like it or not, it makes perfect sense… 

Fats bites a bat. 

Fats catches a bat trying to get high off of its blood. But how does he know it’s the same bat? He’s probably going to get rabies from that thing. Biting random animals in the jungle? That’s a good way for something bad to happen to you. 

What do you mean “you people”? 

Another one of the many quotable lines in this movie. Tugg says “you people” to Kirk, and Kirk says ”what do you mean “you people?”” And Alpa, actually being black, goes “what do YOU mean “you people?”” Another hilarious segment that is just played out beautifully in real time. 

Excellent soundtrack. 

Aside from the movie itself, with the dialogue and everything else, the soundtrack has a lot of 60’s Vietnam era classic rock going on throughout the movie. Which gives it a nice touch as they’re walking through the jungle and traversing through rivers and whatnot. 

What did Tugg make that shelter out of? 

Tugg makes a shelter in the middle of the night, in the middle of the jungle, out of nothing. It looks like pages from a magazine or something. But where did he get a magazine from? And how did he build the shelter? 

Tugg kills a panda. 

Some poor little panda comes up to Tugg’s shelter, probably just curious what the light is, and Tugg, in his fear, kills it in terror. He then skins it and wears its head like some kind of jungle warrior. He’s losing it, and the panda paid the price. 

Is he eating the panda’s eyeball? 

As Tugg is talking to Pecker, is he munching on one of the eyeballs from the panda that he killed? He bites into something round and gooey. What else is there? It’s round, red, and looks like an eyeball. That’s really the only explanation I can think of. 

Les Grossman couldn’t care less about Tugg. 

Les Grossman isn’t going to negotiate for Tugg for any amount of money. He doesn’t care if they kill him or not. He doesn’t care one way or the other and is completely remorseless. It’s the way that Tom Cruise plays this character that makes it so funny. It’s utterly unapologetic.  

Alpa’s gay. 

The fact that Alpa’s gay despite the fact that his hit song is “I love the pussy” is utter genius. And him sitting with Lance Bass at the end of the movie is an even funnier joke. 

He throws Half Squat like a Cabbage Patch doll. 

As Tugg is running across the bridge near the end of the film, he throws Half Squat off of him and he looks like a Cabbage Patch doll. One of the few parts of the movie where the effects are low-key. But I think that one was intentional. 

Pecker flew to Southeast Asia to give Tugg a TiVo. 

Again, the TiVo is so important, that Pecker flew all the way to Southeast Asia to make sure that Tugg got his TiVo. And it eventually ended up saving their lives. So, in a way, I guess the TiVo really WAS important after all… 

Did they leave Pecker there? 

After the TiVo blocks the rocket, Pecker runs back into the tree line. How did he get back to America? Did they just leave him there? They just flew off and left him there with all those drug cartel people. What about Pecker? 

Tom Cruise is my favorite character. 

I’ve said it before: I don’t like Tom Cruise in anything. But in this movie, Tom Cruise’s character, Les Grossman, is my favorite character in this movie. He’s over the top funny. Unapologetically ruthless. Greedy and self-serving. And easily makes every scene that he’s in way better.  

So, yeah, if you haven’t seen Tropic Thunder, go and see it immediately. Because it’s one of the best comedies in the genre. If you’re into that sort of thing. And if you aren’t, what are you doing here? You should be watching more movies so you can learn what good movies are. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…