Some Thoughts on "Tropic Thunder"

I'll admit, I was slightly disappointed by Tropic Thunder. I liked it and thought it was quite funny, but I thought it lagged behind David Gordon Green's Pineapple Express in nearly every way.

Tropic Thunder is an incisive Hollywood satire, but I never thought it was quite as funny as Pineapple Express. I know it's not really fair to compare two such dissimilar films in this manner, but having just seen Green's comedy and laughed myself silly for nearly the whole running time, and finding myself only chuckling mildly at Tropic Thunder and laughing out loud only a few times, I have to say that Pineapple Express is ultimately more successful in its goals.

The difference is that Tropic Thunder shoots for something bigger, it takes on Hollywood idiosyncrasies and exposes them for the lunacy that they are. Pineapple Express' goals are much simpler, and therefore it achieves them with greater ease. Tropic Thunder works, but I always had the feeling that it could have worked better. It has moments of great comic inspiration and truly funny commentary on the current state of Hollywood, but there are quite a few lulls where it doesn't quite connect as well as it should.

I know that it sounds like I didn't like the film, but I did. It's a three star effort...on the lower end of the rating but a three star effort nonetheless. It shoots for something a bit more than the average comedy, and that must be taken into account even when it doesn't always hit the mark.

Robert Downey Jr's performance as the pretentious Australian actor Kirk Lazarus, who undergoes a cosmetic procedure to make him resemble an African American - continuing a stellar year for the actor. The numerous cameos from various celebrities are also a highlight.

It may grow on me in the coming weeks, but I think I'll go see Pineapple Express again before revisiting this. It remains for me the funniest movie of the summer, while Tropic Thunder is going to have to settle for second.