Rating of
2.5/4
Ghost Seed - wrote on 08/18/08
So many opportunities, So little guts.
Dear Mr. Stiller,
Perhaps it was my own undoing. I made the mistake of reading reviews (and one very hyped Newsweek article) that promised me that your flick is "The Funniest Comedy of the Summer!" For me, Thunder was less than half as funny as it could have (or should have) been. For a film that has been critiqued and marketed as one that mocks & "makes-fun-of" the whole Hollywood business, I felt cheated. It was really more of a playful "tickling". Where you afraid to offend anyone you might have even minuscule relations with??
You took more risks directing Reality Bites!
I of course, expected a silly "war" goof. I hoped for big laughs, a cheesy Hollywood "wrap-up" ending, and yes, a little nonsense - but packed with punches along the way. This was the perfect chance for you to really zing producers like the Weinsteins in all their monstrous glory...Agents, in all their weaselly cheesy glory...Directors, in all their obsessive, eccentric glory, and Actors, in all their arrogant, ignorant, drug-addicted, self-righteous glory - But in the end, the safe road was taken & Actors were the only part of the business you successfully teased. (Admit it, McConaughey & Cruise even Black's representation, were weak attempts.)
Okay, Benny..maybe I'm being too harsh.. I suppose I just went into it with a misunderstanding of what this movie was all about.
Honestly though, even with that aside, It was still a strange experience...Scene after scene, there was a good set-up...I'd feel the sensation that something hilarious was about to happen - Here it comes!!!......and....nothing. I'd end up waiting for the big-laugh payoff that never came. The exchanges between Downey Jr. and Jackson were very amusing, the two worked well together, and Jay Baruchel's character was quite likable. YOUR performance, (which in your recent films completely annoys me) was much better & though not as risky, it was still not quite as funny as I hoped.
Bottom line - There are laughs here, I give alot of respect for not copping out with doofus "raunchy" humor (the easy way to sell tickets to the brain-dead)
The attempt to load lots of action in a gorgeous setting, and that Stiller-style weird silliness is also respectable...But all the focus on the action may have taken priority over coming up with more clever writing.
Ben, you starred in Permanent Midnight - I KNOW you know what makes a quality film...
Sincerely,
Carla Rene
Oh, and P.S...An uglified Tom Cruise dancing badly is not as funny as you think it is.
