The Bar

Starring: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jay Baruchel, Nick Nolte

Director: Ben Stiller

Writer(s): Etan Cohen, Ben Stiller, and Justin Theroux

Studio: Dreamworks

Rating: R

Official Bar Score: 

Forgive me if I get this wrong but I’m going to give it a shot. In 1969 a group of ten men were sent on a rescue mission to get back Sgt. Four Leaf Tayback. The mission was practically a suicide mission and of those ten men only four returned. Of those four men, three would go on to write books about the events. Of those three books two would become published. Of those two published one would receive a movie deal. Tropic Thunder is the story of the men who tried to make that movie. That’s the just of the story.

Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), Rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) are set to star in Director Damien Cockburn’s (Steve Coogan) adaptation of Tropic Thunder the best selling book written by Sergeat Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte). The problem is the actors in only five days have managed to put the film a month behind schedule (you read that right) and now in danger by being shutdown by the film’s funder and studio head Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) Cockburn is convinced to take a new approach to making the film. He decides to install cameras all over the jungle and drop the men off in the middle of nowhere in an effort to make the film seem more genuine. However a tragedy that I’d rather not spoil splits the cast confusing them as to whether or not they are indeed in the middle of making a film or not.

In addition to the actors already listed you also get appearances by Speedman’s cocky agent Rick Peck AKA the Pecker (Matthew McConaughey), Les Grossman’s ass kissing right hand man Rob Slolum (Bill Hader), explosions expert/stunt supervisor Cody (Danny McBride) and cameos that range from Tyra Banks to Lance Bass. In short the film was too filled to the brim with good actors and comedians to ever fall into mediocre territory. Plus for fans of the R rated comedies which are making a big comeback this film very much earns it’s rating with it’s language and violence.

On the other side of the coin though we have the two controversies that the film has endured since promotion started. First is the fact that Robert Downey Jr. plays a black man in the majority of the film. This one I don’t understand at all as people playing other races is pretty common practice in films whether it be white guys playing black guys, black guys playing white guys, or “insert random race” playing a middle eastern terrorist. Point being it’s nothing new nor should it be offensive. Next is the film’s portrayal of the mentally retarded which has caused somewhat of an uproar. My problem with this is taken out of the context of the film yes I can see how the clips may seem offensive but you have to understand something, the scenes are meant to be satirical. Stiller and Downey Jr’s characters are poking fun of actors who play people with mental retardation much like they parody several other things, and during their conversation they bring up a role Stiller’s character played in a movie called Simple Jack. The conversation is about a minute and a half and the only other time it’s brought up is in two brief scenes later in which Stiller is forced to portray the character again. All in all I’d say the three scenes take up about 3 minutes tops of the film. Again I didn’t really find it to be offensive but I also understood it within the context of the point they were trying to prove.

On a lighter note Stiller and Downey Jr really steal the show as expected with the latter really carrying the movie up from a 3 1/2 beer film to a 4 beer film with his constant rants and one liners. The best coming in a scene in which Downey Jr. must portray a female Asian farmer (yes that means it’s a white guy, playing a black guy, portraying an Asian lady for those keeping score) and makes the mistake of saying he’s a rice farmer then says he must get back to his poppy seed field. When confronted with his mistake and asked what exactly it is that he farms Downey Jr. pulls out two machine guns and proclaims “I’m a lead farmer mother fucker.” <----- Line of the film.

Stiller on the other hand is the asshole action star who's career is on the downturn and this may just be the last straw for him if the film isn't a hit. His action film mannerisms and corny attempts at drama (his character wants to move on to serious films) lead to some great moments as well. One of the brightest moments comes in the form of Stiller's late night attack in the jungle which leads to a rather ironic kill.

Even the secondary guys really shine bright with Tom Cruise dropping more “f bombs” than Sam Jackson, McConaughey playing the agent that will do anything for his client, Nick Nolte as the “handless” veteran who has lost touch with reality and my boy Danny McBride playing a role similar to his role in Hot Rod and once again stealing a couple of scenes with such gems as “Mother nature just pissed her pants dude.”

Tropic Thunder should satisfy comedy fans of all circles as there is plenty of memorable lines, plenty of physical comedy, some just over the top stupid humor, and even a few dick and fart jokes. Word to the wise, get there early so you can catch the grindhouse treatment and see some fake trailers and a commercial and stay for the credits.

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