Tropic Thunder: Bungle in the jungle :o)

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http://blogs.tampabay.com/movies/2008/08/tropic-thunder.html

August 06, 2008

Tropic Thunder: Bungle in the jungle

Hollywood

movies spoofing Hollywood are amusing only if viewers have an inkling

of how the business works; the pecking-order insecurities, the

justification of pandering for profit, the conspiratorial disdain for

junk-flick audiences and camouflaging hype. I have a pretty good idea

yet something like H. Macy's The Deal still can turn me off for being too "inside."

Audiences agree, judging by embarrassing box office results for most modern Hollywood-themed movies: America's Sweethearts (despite , Crystal, Zeta- and Cusack), L. ' I'll Do Anything, Tim Burton's Ed Wood, and An Alan ee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn among the most notorious.

What those flops didn't have -- and the new comedy Tropic Thunder

revels in -- is carpet-bombed profanity, gruesomely violent scenes

(staged and real), and jokes about sex, race and mental retardation

that are guaranteed to offend somebody. And farts. Lots of farts.

That's what sells movie comedies these days. Tropic Thunder will sell a lot of tickets when it opens in theaters Aug. 13.

Yet, director/co-writer Ben Stiller gets caught in

the same self-mockery trap of those previous Hollywood satires, too

focused on jokes about actors, agents and studio chiefs that wouldn't

mean much to viewers if they weren't presented by Downey Jr., Jack Black, McConaughey and Tom Cruise. The stereotypes aren't even fresh, although such star power will attract moviegoers who wouldn't go near Woody 's Hollywood Ending, The Big Picture or Swimming with Sharks. They may be impressed.

Did I laugh? Occasionally, when an obscene euphemism or shock joke hit

home. Downey''s portrayal of an Australian multi- winner whose

Method obsession leads to "pigmentation alteration" to play an

African-American soldier in a war movie is funnier when a genuinely

black actor ( T. ) is calling his bluff. Cruise is obviously having fun sending up Hollywood producers, with bald head and extremely foul mouth.

But the advance buzz for those actors originated in L.A. where their

inside jokes play better. That's why Stiller's immersion in raunch and

exaggerated gore feels cheap; he knows what the yokels will "get," even

if it isn't what he and the guys are laughing about while watching

daillies. There's a whiff of arrogance to Tropic Thunder, unlike Hot Fuzz which successfully spoofed action flicks by focusing on what makes them appealing to the masses.

The real audience for Tropic Thunder will see it for free

at red carpet premieres and industry screenings. Everyone else will

have to buy a ticket, but aren't likely to make it "inside."

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