Tropic Thunder is the Funniest Movie of the Year

Quick thoughts after watching Tropic Thunder. Yeah I know everyone else has probably seen it already. If you haven't make sure you do right away. I laughed out loud constantly during the movie. Most of the time I was laughing it was at Robert Downey Jr's character. He is certainly one of the most talented actors in Hollywood. I was really impressed by Ben Stiller for directing and co-writing the screenplay. Much like Will Ferrell, Stiller has been coasting the last few years making mostly mediocre and sometimes completely unfunny comedies. He usually played the same character and it seemed like he took whatever part was offered to him. Obviously he has a keen comedic sense so it seems odd that he would take so many bad roles. Hopefully he continues to make more ballsy movies like this instead of moronic comedies like the Heartbreak Kid or Along Came Polly.



The most surprising performance in the movie belongs to Tom Cruise. I had heard through the grapevine that he had a cameo and that it was amazingly funny and unlike anything Tom Cruise had done before. I don't want to give anything away that will ruin it for those who haven't seen it so let me just say that he was even better than I had heard he was going to be. Everyone knows he is crazy in real life, but he shows here that given the right material he can do comedy really well and also that he is willing to make an ass out of himself which I would not have expected. Well he generally does that anytime he does an interview, but the video on Youtube about his views on Scientology and his erratic behavior on Oprah were unintentional comedy. Pretty much everyone else in the movie was good including Danny McBride (Pineapple Express, the Foot Fist Way ) who is not well known yet, but has been good in all three of the movies I have seen him in. The one minor exception was Jack Black. He was not terrible, but other than the fake trailer of his movie at the beginning which was good, his character was a bit of a miss or at least when compared to everyone else. There are tons of cameos in the movie none of which are comparable to Tom Cruise's hilarious cameo. It was a great surprise that this movie beat out Pineapple Express as my favorite comedy of the year. I was a huge fan of Pineapple Express and it was a really funny movie, but it did not have nearly as many moments where I found myself unable to control my laughter. If you are easily offended or are overly politically correct maybe this is not the movie for you, but for everyone else I highly recommend it.