Full Movie Reviews
Rating of
3/4
Tropic Thunder
KingInTheNorth - wrote on 07/18/2013
The movie has Ben Stiller as an action shooting star. And Robert Downey Jr. as a five time Academy Award winner. And both are doing a movie together. Even from this idea you gotta laugh.
This is the first try of Ben Stiller being a director. And he does a well job. Downey Jr. is just so hilarious in this movie, the oscar-nom is totally fair. Ben Stiller and Jack Black are not that impressive, so is the whole cast. Except of Tom Cruise. Yes, Tom Cruise is in the movie. He is so great and hilarious. The script is also excellent. That is just what happens if you have help from Ethan Coen. If Joel would have written on that screenplay too. This movie would have been more great than it is now. There are very cool twists in here and very cool dialogues.
Rating of
2/4
Tropic Thunder review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 01/01/2012
A cast consisting of Tugg Speedman (Stiller), Kirk Lazarus (Downey, Jr.), Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and Jeff Portnoy (Black) create a film from the memoir of John "Four Leaf" Tayback's (Nick Nolte). John advices the director to plant hidden camera's and make the film realistic to bring out the best in them. Had a few lunatic scenes such as eating a bat, a director being killed accidentally and yet no investigations, weird dialogues from Les Grossman (Tom Cruise), and a kid leading a heroin-producing Flaming Dragon gang just to name a few. Some highlights would be Portnoy being tied up on a tree, awards show and trailers. Tropic Thunder had a talented cast, truckloads of special effects, nice soundtrack and sufficient humor despite the mediocre screenplay and dull characters.
Rating of
3/4
Tell Everyone What Happened Here
DarkCritic - wrote on 01/11/2010
Tropic Thunder can be explained in three words: explosions, drama, and hilarity. Although I was never really a big fan of Ben Stiller, I have to say that I was impressed with this film.
The story follows four actors that were suppose to make a movie called "Tropic Thunder". These actors had more than just personality: each of them had their own twist of past that made their characters realistic as well as enjoyable. Even if the characters weren't that original, I loved all of them. Each one brought more and more to the table, making drama and plenty of jokes.
What I have to say I enjoyed most about the movie was actually Tom Cruise. It's not often you see Tom Cruise outside of his normal "good guy" role, and this movie really put a twist on most of the roles he plays. I could …
Rating of
3.5/4
One of the better comedies of the year
TommyL31 - wrote on 04/17/2009
This movie was hilarious. I usually don't find Ben Stiller that funny and I've never been a fan of Robert Downey Jr. (although I admit I haven't seen Iron Man) but I think the way the two of them worked together was brilliant. The role (and presence of other big time actors) reigned Stiller in (I think he is at his worst when he's over the top) and Downey Jr. really got to showcase himself. I would've liked to see Black's role be a little larger or slightly different. He was good but he didn't play into the movie as much as the other two in my opinion (although he had a few good moments).
The opening scenes were an ingenious way to start this movie and it worked really well.
Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey have small parts that they'd both pulled off extremely well and really …
Rating of
2/4
A One-Note Joke
Franz Patrick - wrote on 01/18/2009
This is not as funny as everyone made it to be. I thought it spent too much of its time showing people shooting guns and not enough time telling Hollywood jokes. For a two-hour film, I thought it would reach some sort of balance. Written and directed by Ben Stiller, he has some really funny sketches such as the fake trailers prior to the main feature, Robert Downey Jr. as a method actor, Tom Cruise as the over-the-top movie mogul, and not to mention the Oscar scene. Other than those few elements, I simply chuckled through the rest (if they were at least somewhat funny). Jack Black and Ben Stiller weren’t as funny as they could have been. Compared to Downey Jr. and Cruise, Black and Stiller were trying too hard to get noticed; instead of enhancing the experience, it became distracting. …
Rating of
2.5/4
A very mixed movie
Ichabod Crane - wrote on 11/14/2008
A very mixed movie, with funny things and not funny things. Characters were very all over the place with good ones and bad ones. Robert Downey Jr was a great character especially I felt when he reverted to his true self I thought that was pretty funny. Than there is a bad one like Jack Black's character who is given too much screen time since he is a one joke character that is not funny to begin with. Ben Stiller's character is a mixed bag funny and not funny at all at different times in the film. The film actually just goes in and out of being funny. Two actors I usually do not care much for Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey I thought were very funny but they were not given that much time on screen. The film is funny but filled with problems. A hard film to review so I suppose take …
Rating of
2/4
Catastrophic Thunder
BryanFury - wrote on 10/13/2008
Upon seeing this movie I thought to myself what a complete waste of talent from such a great cast to what might could've been the funniest flick this year. It was really a shame their comedic prowess weren't used to their full potential. I mean c'mon Jack Black and Stiller plus a Robert Downey, a combo like this three should’ve blown my brains out laughing. So I guess it comes down to the chemistry thing. There was really not much going on between these three. And they're not even trying to be funny. It would have been nice if they were doing improv and just mess their lines up, that would've been something. Although it kind of reminded me of a previous Ben Stiller movie the Mystery Men, the big difference is it was funnier than Tropic Thunder. Also there is a big similarity of …
Rating of
3/4
Very Funny, great talent, well worth seeing
TheWolf - wrote on 09/17/2008
When watching a Ben Stiller film you have to be prepared. First of all the trailers for the film aren't going to give you the best depiction of what the movie is going to be like. I only say that because those that cut the trailer generally are the ones that cut the film. They set it up to make it look like it will be an all around enjoyable comedy that everyone will want to watch.
If you are a seasoned veteran of watching Stiller films you will know that the man is brilliant. His comedy is generally takes something that we view as common and then he pushes it to the point in which everyone can see how ridiculous it is. The best example of this is the fact that he had them put phony trailers in with the real ones just to introduce the characters. It was the best way to open a film …
Rating of
4/4
Downey does it again. Stiller who?
Owtkast - wrote on 08/27/2008
If you haven't seen the movie, don't read the reviews here that give good stuff away. Prepare yourself to be surprised. It's worth it. This comedy has cured the disease that ruins 99% of funny movies... the plot. Most comedies run funny for the first 3/4 and the last part is a "we have to wrap up the plot" portion of the movie. This movie trumps that notion and keeps the laughs coming throughout. Downey Jr. steals the movie with his nonsensicle lines and hilarious dialogue. Not to underscore his fantastic non-verbal punchlines. Some of his facial expressions pulled in the funniest moments of the movie. I admit, I have never liked Jack Black in any movie, but he has THEEE best set of lines in this picture. The spoilers will tell you about awesome cameos that aren't really cameos but …
Rating of
3.5/4
Laughter as loud as thunder
goodfellamike - wrote on 08/21/2008
A rather hilarious, but exhausting action satire on Hollywood and the lengths gone to film certain movies; Stiller succeeds more as writer/director than star and gives us some true belly laughs in the form of faux movie trailers, and hilarious performances from method actor Downey Jr. who goes to extreme lengths to get into character, and Tom Cruise, in heavy make-up; the film is less successful in its treatment of action, which is uncomfortably lame and over-the-top and allows Jack Black to overcompensate for his underwritten role as the fat, heroin-addicted actor who goes through withdrawals in the jungle. The strengths do somehow outweigh the pitfalls and in the end one remembers the hysterical more than the groans. FInal Grade: B
