Overall Impression — Oh. My. Lord. The biggest cajones in the comedy world belong to Ben Stiller. This movie goes places wise men fear to tread…and comes out the other side in one, amazing piece.
THE FOUR QUESTIONS
Who’s your main character? — Tugg Speedman.
What’s he trying to accomplish? — Professional: Rebuild his career by appearing in an epic war movie. Personal: be a leader to his troupe of actors. Private: Learn how to REALLY care about something other than himself.
Who’s trying to stop him? — Drug lords.
What happens if he fails? — He dies.
THE FOUR ARCHETYPES
Orphan — Tugg is in over his head starring in an out of control war movie, then he and his fellow actors are dropped in the jungle and lose total contact with the outside world.
Wanderer — Tugg and his troupe continue trying to “act” in the movie they think is still going on, until it slowly becomes obvious to everyone but Tugg that this is real. Tugg eventually parts company with the others and fights to survive in the jungle on his own.
Warrior — Tugg gets taken prisoner by a gang of drug runners, and eventually realizes that this isn’t a movie. His fellow actors realize that Tugg’s in trouble and have to come up with a plan to rescue him.
Martyr — Everyone is willing to risk everything for Tugg, Tugg’s willing to risk everything for his “son”, Tugg’s agent is willing to risk…no, I can’t give it away. Basically, it’s an over-the-top Martyr Fest!
AND, IN THE END…
The purpose of this blog is not to review movies, but to examine if they work and then hold up their relative success or failure against the principles in TotallyWrite and Contour.
TROPIC THUNDER works like gangbusters structurally, a fact which can easily get lost because you’re either laughing out loud so often or your jaw has dropped against your chest in wonderment that they actually “went there.”
I’ve often heard not to make movies that are too “inside.” It has something to do with people not really being too interested in peering behind the curtain into the entertainment they’re enjoying. But TROPIC THUNDER is both inside and outside. It makes fun of everything including celebrity adoptions, celebrity children’s books, agents, producers, directors, product placement, Oscar worthy roles about the mentally challenged; it’s both a satire about how actors feel about themselves and how we feel about them.
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