There’s a moment in Tropic Thunder when a tiny baby, probably 2 or 3 years old, is thrown off of a high bridge (like the one over the River Kwai) and you get a glimpse of the small body cartwheeling down through the air. I laughed so hard at that image that I almost didn’t recover. It’s near the end of the film, and so that was good – because I couldn’t settle down after it … and, judging from the ongoing guffaws around me, nobody else could either. Tears were streaming down my face. I can’t remember the last time I lost it like that at a current-day comedy.
If you can make me laugh at a baby being thrown off a bridge, if you can create a comedic context where something like that is hilarious – you done good.
There’s so much else that is funny about this movie – Tom Cruise is brilliant … it’s not just a bald wig and makeup giving him pimples and a yukky beard … He is inhabiting that horrible person. He’s doing so with a relish. Brilliant. Love to see him like that, loose and nuts and powerful and MAD.
But it’s the baby flying through the air that really nailed for me how funny this movie really is. Usually something like that is a “gag”, or – it’s there to push the envelope, to see how far everyone can go and still remain funny. That’s part of comedy … finding the line, and either walking that line or leaping over it. But you have to be really gifted (George Carlin, Lenny Bruce) to leap over that line. Otherwise, you end up seeming like an attention-whore … if it doesn’t have intelligence behind it, or a POINT … well, I just tune you out. But that baby flying off the bridge (and the scene that leads up to that moment – which is HILARIOUS) is not a “gag” – it ends up seeming like an inevitability … like there was only one way for Stiller’s character to get out of that jam, and that was by throwing that baby off the bridge. And yes, the image – of the small body cartwheeling through the air at top speed, is funny in and of itself – so we all burst out laughing – but at the same time, our laughter had that intensity where you know what you are laughing at is kind of awful … It’s my favorite kind of laugh, and Tropic Thunder is all about that.
Robert Downey Jr. has been around since I was a teenager. And to see him really have his moment now, as a middle-aged man … I don’t know. It kind of brings tears to my eyes. I’m happy for him. I’ve always liked him but Two Girls and a Guy – kind of a dumb movie – made me realize the depths unplumbed in this guy – and not just that, but the sheer acting chops. Yes, in that stupid movie! The last shot of the film – with him (and, finally, Heather Graham) is, to me, what good acting and real acting is all about. I always knew he was talented and watch-able, but it was watching Two Girls and a Guy when I thought: He’s not just talented. He is a fine actor. Not too many people out there would be capable of doing what he did in the last shot of Two Girls and a Guy … It’s more like watching a PLAY, where things have to happen spontaneously, and also “on time” (as opposed to a film, where you go out of sequence – you do your crying scene before lunch, and then you do your happy scene after lunch) … but Downey Jr. is so in control of his instrument (actor-talk), and so deeply sensitive … that he is able to act in that film as THOUGH it is a play. That’s the requirement. There is no cutaway to give the actor time to “get ready” for that last moment, he has no private time to prepare. It all happens in one shot. And he modulates it perfectly. The long shot starts out in one mood and then moves to another … with no music cues, no “tricks”, no closeups … Robert Downey Jr. is in charge. In the same way that an actor in a PLAY is in charge. Amazing moment in film acting. Like I said, I’ve always loved Robert Downey Jr., but it was watching that moment that made me realize I admire him, he has a gift.
And as far as I’m concerned … starting with Zodiac last year (he’s so amazing in it) … he is just really hitting his stride right now, and it looks FUN, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it seem like he’s having fun? Downey Jr. always seemed tortured to me … but now … the main thing I get from him now is a real enjoyment of the craft of acting, an enjoyment of his own talents, and being psyched that he’s in such good projects. I mean, what he does in Tropic Thunder is RIDICULOUS … and also hilarious. When he shouts out, in his honky-tonk blaxploitation accent: “Hell, EVERYBODY’S gay some of the time!” … I just lost it. Like: what? What are you TALKING about?
More to say about the movie … but suffice it to say, I loved it.
I love any movie that makes me cry with laughter. Especially if the tears of laughter come at the image of a small Burmese baby catapulting through the air off a bridge. That’s beyond the pale. I love it. You’ve earned my laughs, by that point. It’s not there for shock value. It makes total sense within the plot, and it’s also horrifyingly inevitable (from the first minute I saw that baby I had a sense he was up to no good) … and so you did what you needed to do to make the payoff of that moment. So many comedies today don’t want to do the necessary work … they only want the payoff. They only value the “ching” and they ignore the “ba-dum”. Well, everyone knows that there can be no “ching” without the “ba-dum” set up. You NEED the “ba dum”!! Tropic Thunder doesn’t race around trying to get points with unearned “chings”. The film has all the “ba dums” it needs. Also, you can’t have a “ba dum” and then not follow it up with the “ching”! Don’t skimp on the “chings”!! If you set it up with a “ba dum”, you had BEST have a “ching”, even if it’s two hours later.
Nothing better than a movie that knows it owes us something … in terms of intelligence, structure, smarts, surprise – and delivers.
I loved it.
I saw a preview of this movie and thought it looked terrible. After your review I want to see it. I also thought Something’s Gotta Give and Stranger Than Fiction looked terrible after watching the previews, and loved them after you convinced me to watch them. I could use a good laugh-so-hard-you’re-crying laugh.
One of the biggest crying laughs I’ve ever had was reading your Bombs I’ve Been In post. By the time the person was fighting to get out of the theater, I was sobbing with laughter. My daughter was really concerned, and I had a hard time trying to catch my breath to reassure her.
Oh, see, I laughed out loud at the previews. The movie seemed smart, bold, and campy – which is such a hard combination to do right, but the previews seemed to show that they had been successful. They were. Oh, and it also seemed provocative. I love provocation. Robert Downey Jr. is in blackface, talking like he’s Ike Turner, circa 1974. WHO DOES THAT? He does.
I love a movie that can cut into the heart of what we CAN’T say (or the things we are told we cannot say by all the special interest groups as well as the religious right and the morality police – who are all just so WORRIED about free speech and WORRIED about things that are “offensive”) … and says it anyway. And I love a film that can do that and still be freakin’ hysterical – and not some bombastic pamphlet about free speech.
I love it that the mentally disabled group got all hurt … because it showed they completely missed the point of the scene – so hellbent were they in being “offended”. The point of that “retard” scene is not to make fun of mentally disabled people – but to make fun of the Oscar-grubbing that goes on in Hollywood actors – to play someone who is mentally disabled … thinking that playing a “retard” will up their chances on winning the big prize. But whatever, people like that are always ready to be offended anyway … It gave the film some nice press, and that’s always good!
And I love that the only really self-righteous black dude in the film is the white dude in blackface. He’s all, “For 400 years our people have suffered …” as the REAL black dude gives him a sidelong glance like, “Is this guy for real??” But all of the anger about race is in Robert Downey Jr.’s character – which totally takes the edge off of the situation and makes it all ludicrous and funny.
I’ve never laughed out loud at the sight of a BABY – a poverty-struck baby too! – being flung off a bridge. That’s some feat. As a matter of fact, I was still laughing at the mental image of its cartwheeling blur of a body this morning.
The baby thing kind of reminded me of that post you wrote about you and a friend seeing a dead dog get repeatedly run over and how the two of you couldn’t stop laughing. So wrong, but so, so funny. I really want to see this. I haven’t had any time to go to the movies this summer. It’s kind of sucked.
Emily – HAHAHAHAHAHA Exactly!!! How can you explain?? The poor dead dog kept flying up into the air and Jackie and I were crying and laughing hysterically. hahahahaha
I think you’ll love it.
And wait til you see Couch Jumpy – SUCH a funny performance! Just a horrible horrible man … he obviously had a blast with it.
i agree that robert downey jr has really hit his stride. and i might be the only one, but i was more impressed by him in this than cruise. i loved him in zodiac and iron man, but i also wanted to mention ‘a scanner darkly’ because a lot of people seem to have missed it, and it was plain terrific. i’m always awed by linklater’s ability to get great performances from people who otherwise suck (there are a few that i’m thinking of here). anyway, rdjr has a small role but again steals the movie.
I mean, look at his face in the poster. That is insane.
WHAT. No way. RDJ was not seriously the black guy, was he? I thought they’d switched actors. Whatwhatwhat?
Totally brilliant.
And I must agree with you about Tom Cruise. Here I was listening to reports of his couch-jumping insanity, and then he plays a role like this. I have to respect him for it. The white-guy-does-gangsta thing’s been done before, but the sheer practical evilness of his character and how much he enjoys it was one of the best parts of the movie. Maybe I just don’t watch enough movies, but I had no idea Ben Stiller could create something this fantastic.
Well, I’ve always thought Cruise was a good actor – limited, perhaps, but so was John Wayne. His couch-jumping doesn’t mean he’s not a good actor. I loved him in Jerry Maguire, I loved him in Risky Business, and I thought there were parts of his performance in Eyes Wide Shut that were quite good. But to see his turn as the misogynistic motivational speaker in Magnolia and his cameo here are total delights … because it’s not a “Tom Cruise Movie” … he’s just part of an ensemble, and he really seems to relish the opportunity to take a smaller part and chew the shit out of it.
And yes, I would suggest to you that you need to see more Ben Stiller movies. His resume is impressive (writer, actor, director, producer), starting off with Reality Bites (his directorial debut) – and then there’s the brilliance of Zoolander – and he’s also quite influential as a producer (he produced Dodgeball, for which I will be forever grateful).
I am proud to say that I saw him in his Broadway debut when he was maybe 18 or 19 years old – in the revival of House of Blue Leaves with John Mahoney, Swoosie Kurtz and Christine Baranski. He has one crucial scene and he knocked it so out of the park that I still remember some of the blocking – and that was years and years ago. He was a phenom.
Is a phenom.
It was Robert Downey Jr that put it over the top for me. I was going to skip it. Jack Black Burnout combined with the fact that Ben Stiller misses for me, most of the time.
But damn, this is the funniest movie in recent memory.
The whole speech about how you “never go Full Retard…”
We’ve been quoting that one at work for two weeks, now….
That “For 400 years…” was probably my favorite part. For a split second I thought the Downey character was going to break character, say something real, or serious, and he breaks out with “For 400 years…”
I also liked the celebrity cameos. (The monk!)
i want to own the DVD RIGHT NOW.
downey jr. was infamous and this performance vaults him right on up to legend.
i too keep laughing about that baby, not just what happens to it but what it is doing that causes it to be thrown off the bridge in the first place.
HYSTERICAL.
Bren – yes!! It is the shot right BEFORE it is thrown off the bridge that really made me lose it. hahahaha and how it’s in strange choppy slow motion – just horrifying! I would have thrown that baby off the bridge too!
the real funny thing is that the baby DESERVED to be thrown off the bridge.
where are the ‘baby’s rights’ groups protesting the treatment of the baby? and where is the DGA protesting the horrific treatment of steve coogan as the fictional director?
on a cool serious note, the audience in the theater when i saw it was probably the MOST diverse movie crowd i’ve ever been a part of.
Bren – that’s so weird, I was just telling my friend Patrick the same thing – totally diverse crowd to a degree I haven’t experienced in a long time.
I loved the explosives expert on the film, too – whose hero is the Nick Nolte character. I thought he was hilarious.
How about the little play Ben Stiller is forced to put on in the Burmese drug factory camp?? hahahaha SO WEIRD AND AWFUL.
no, the whole thing is absolutely absurd. absurd. i can’t quite believe that stiller pulled it off. and jack black tied to the freakin’ tree? yelling ‘don’t judge me’ as he runs into the heroin camp?
i already need to see it again. and the fake movie previews??? the graphic ‘tobey maquire…winner MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss’??? riotous.
“Don’t judge me” hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
I loved, too, Cruise yelling into the phone:
“Why don’t you pull a little back … AND FUCK YOUR OWN FACE!”
there are just too many moments to recall. a classic.