It’s quite sad that humor has to be so obvious nowadays.
Comedies seem to have lost the ability to use smooth irony, smart jokes and
other means to make people laugh. Everything turns into something obvious so
that anyone can understand the humor. The problem with this kind of humor is
that it’s meant to pick on others, even if the intention is just to create
laughs.
This is the case of “Tropic Thunder” which is indeed funny
because it manages to make fun of actors who are so self absorbed and think
they are the most important beings on Earth. On the other hand, the movie uses
the word “retarded” so many times that it was bound to create so much
controversy from some groups who took it personally. It seems Ben Stiller, who
starred in the movie, co-wrote and directed it, can’t have it all. “Tropic
Thunder” may be funny but not everyone enjoys this kind of humor.
The President of the American Association of People with
Disabilities Andrew J. Imparato said that the movie was “tasteless” and
“offensive start to finish,” reported Variety. Using slogans like “Call me by
my name, not by my label,” the protesters who gathered across the street from
the movie’s Los Angeles
premiere argued that “Tropic Thunder,” starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr.,
Jack Black, Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey, was very offensive.
“Tropic Thunder” is a comedy situated on the edge, as is
makes fun of everything: Vietnam
veterans, drug addicts who are recovering, Russell Crowe, those who are
overweight and the list can go on. But, if you get over those aspects and don’t
take it personally, the movie is really funny. The action revolves around a
group of self absorbed, pampered actors who are taken into the jungle to lose
their VIP behavior. Even if the jungle is real and they get involved in all
sorts of dangerous situations, they keep it cool, thinking it’s all a movie.
Ben Stiller plays action star Tugg Speedman, Robert Downey
Jr. is Kirk Lazarus and Jack Black is Jeff Portnoy star of the movie “The
Fatties: Fart II,” making fun of the Klumps with Eddie Murphy. All these actors
are trying to make “Tropic Thunder,” a Vietnam War movie based on a book writer
by Sgt. Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), but they are to vane and their egos are
too big to let them work.
While Downey Jr. plays a white actor playing a black
soldier, Ben Stiller’s character Tugg Speedman makes fun of those actors who
play intellectually challenged characters, thinking it is a good opportunity to
win an Oscar. So, if you stop and think about it, the movie doesn’t make fun of
the mentally disabled but of the actors. Even Ben Stiller said that in the
context of the movie, all the jokes make sense.
“So in the context of the film I think it's really clear,
they were making fun of the actors and actors who try to use serious subjects
to win awards. It's about actors and self-importance. I think the context of
the movie it's pretty clear,” said Ben Stiller on “Good Morning America.”
Continuing with the mockery, Tom Cruise makes his way by
playing megalomaniac studio head Les Grossman, making up for some of his
pretentious interviews and other roles he had.
So, basically, viewers could be offended by the movie but,
if they don’t take it personally, they could see the fact that “Tropic Thunder”
mocks a certain category of actors (which includes almost all the actors),
reminding them to not take themselves too serious.
Tropic Thunder
Director: Ben Stiller
Writers: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Nick
Nolte.
