Tropic Thunder

I was actually really surprised with how good 'Tropic Thunder' turned out to be. I thought it'd be a brainless spoof of over-the-top Vietnam war epics and that it would be at least a decade-and-a-half too late (See Hot Shots).

But it turned out to be really funny, extremely gory, and full of the kind of explosions that would make Michael Bay's dick hard. Spot on satire. It was great. Tom Cruise's cameo was a little forced, I thought, though, and I'm not sure it was very funny, either. Not many people in the theater laughed at his turn as a studio exec caricature until the very end. But that's okay. It was good to see him not being a complete alien weirdo.

Additionally, the movie was pretty offensive/insensitive to (how do I say it tactfully) mentally-challenged people. I understand the satire involved and knew what they were trying to do, but apparently a lot of people didn't (See article) or didn't think it was done with any sort of grace.

And I think they're right, to a certain extent. And I think I'm right to a certain extent. You can't please everybody and the majority of this film was pretty racy, so they can be forgiven for missing the mark on that particular aspect. Anyone, though, who thought perhaps this movie would uplift discourse could not possibly have seen Zoolander. It's a 'guy' movie in every respect (and I'm being a little stereotypical here, too). There are only perhaps two or three women in the entire film (including the Christine Taylor cameo), so it is drenched in so much ribald testosterone (shouldn't it be pronounced tes-tos-ter-won?) that a few stray bullets were probably going to hit somewhere sensitive.

My Grade: Eight Pretentious Actors (out of ten)