Product Description

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 11/18/2008 Run time: 107 minutes Rating: R

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #518 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2008-11-18
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.com
It's not really a knock to say that nothing in Tropic Thunder is funnier than its first five minutes, so sly that--especially for people watching in theaters--you don't realize right away they are the opening minutes of the movie. This outrageous comedy begins with a series of fake previews, each introducing one of the main characters in the film-proper (not that there's anything proper about this film) and each bearing the familiar logo of a different motion picture studio: Universal, DreamWorks SKG, et al. Such playing fast and loose with corporate talismans verges on sacrilege, but it's an index of how much le tout Tinseltown endorses the movie as a demented valentine to itself. The premise is that the cast of a would-be "Son of Rambo" movie shooting in some Southeast Asian jungle get into a real shooting war with drug-smuggling montagnards. Don't ask--though the movie does have an answer--why such highly paid, usually ultra-pampered personnel as superhero Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Mozart of fart comedy Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), hip-hop artist Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), and five-time Oscar-winner Kirk Lazarus from Aus-try-leeah (Robert Downey Jr.) should be running through the jungle unattended and very vulnerable. It matters only that the real-life cast has a high time kidding their own profession and flexing their comedic muscles. Bonus points go to Stiller for co-writing the script (with Justin Theroux) and directing, and to Downey, brilliant as a white actor surgically turned black actor for his role and utterly committed to staying in character no matter what ("I don't drop character till I done the DVD commentary").

Be warned: The movie, too, is committed--to being an equal-opportunity offender. Its political incorrectness extends not only to Lazarus's black-like-me posturing but also Speedman's recent, Sean Penn–style Oscar bid playing a cognitively challenged farmboy--or, in Lazarus's deathless phrase, "going the full retard." Others in the cast include Steve Coogan as a director out of his depth, Nick Nolte as the Viet-vet novelist whose book inspired the film-within-the-film, Matthew McConaughey as Speedman's sun-blissed agent back home, and Tom Cruise--bald, fat-suited, and profane--as an epically repulsive studio head. Two hours running time is a mite excessive, but otherwise, what's not to like? --Richard T. Jameson




Stills from Tropic Thunder (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Meh... buy the theatrical cut instead
There's no doubt that Tropic Thunder is one of the funniest movies of the year- if not THE funniest movie of the year. I remember seeing in the theater and laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. I was excited when I found out that there was an unrated DC coming out... 2 discs, and 15 more minutes more footage.

However, as much as I gotta say the movie rocks, I have to say: BUY THE THEATRICAL CUT INSTEAD. The unrated version slows the movie down a bit, and most of the added stuff doesn't seem to fit in. They changed some funny lines, and even took some out as well. In fact some of the added stuff makes the movie feel a lot longer than it really is, and after awhile the movie seems repetitive, which is one of the few things that killed the movie for me.

So if you're planning on buying the DVD, get the single disc rated version instead... this movie is definitely one of the funniest I've seen, and I definitely look forward to owning it, but really, just get the theatrical. It's MUCH better.

Robert Downey, Jr.---Excellent Performance
I never understood why Downey, Jr. received job after job after being released from prison. I knew he was a good actor, but his portrayal of Iron Man and his performance in this movie was just phenomenal (I never saw the Charlie Chaplin movie). I know this movie offended some, but my husband and I are Black and we missed some of the dialogue in this movie from laughing so hard. We were picking out family members who really talk like that! This movie is hilarious. It's unfortunate that Oscars aren't considered for these types of movies/performances. All of the characters in this movie contributed to it's pleasing experience, however, RDJ stole EVERY SCENE he was apart of. Great Job, RDJ!!! I'm now one of your biggest fans!!!

Politically incorrect with the rude comedic spirit of Blazing Saddles
You'll laugh but this movie isn't for the easily offended. Heck, even a few hard-to-offend viewers will cringe, too. A comedy hasn't had this much in-your-face political incorrectness since Blazing Saddles.

You'll be worn out by the end of this two-hour movie but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The hardest laughs come all too quickly before the film settles down to a slower pace.

The story follows a group of high-maintenance actors on the set of a Vietnam war movie that is spinning out of control and likely to become the all-time box office flop, pushing aside Cutthroat Island, The Adventures of Pluto Nash and Basic Instinct 2.

Ben Stiller has the most screen time but Robert Downey Jr. steals the scenes as an Australian method actor who manages to eclipse Robert De Niro's famed transformation in Raging Bull.

Jack Black (in a nod to Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor), Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel round out the rest of the main acting troupe. In smaller roles, Nick Nolte portrays the author of the book, Tropic Thunder, which "got" the movie deal (there's an in-joke). Matthew McConaughey appears as Stiller's TiVo-crazed agent and Tom Cruise appears nearly unrecognizable in creepy make-up as the film's producer. Not a single actor displays anything approaching subtlety or sanity.

One final warning: skip the DVD extras at your own risk. The viral video for MTV is hilarious.