Google
 

Review: TROPIC THUNDER / Ben Stiller (2008)

August 13th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Brandon T. Jackson, Ben Stiller & Robert Downey, Jr

Brandon T. Jackson, Ben Stiller & Robert Downey, Jr

Tropic Thunder (2008)
Written by: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux & Etan Cohen
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr., Jack Black, Brandon T. Jackson, Nick Nolte, Tom Cruise, Matthew McConnaughey & Steve Coogan
Running Time: 107 min.
Aspect Ratio:

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

A trio of narcissistic actors (Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr., Jack Black) are hired to star in the biggest war movie ever made. Five days into filming and the blockbuster is already one month behind schedule. With the studio threatening to halt production, the director (Steve Coogan) decides to shoot it guerrilla-style and before long his cast is thrown into actual combat.

This weekend I popped in What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, Blake Edwards’ boisterous service comedy that left a mortar shell at the box office, and couldn’t help wondering what the Master would have done with this material. There are star cameos, in-jokes galore, complex lighting set-ups (John Toll, Terrence Malick’s last d.p., shot it) and plenty of physical pain inflicted on characters, a trademark of Edwards’ finest comedies. Ted Wass notwithstanding, Edwards seldom heaped pain on his audience. Tropic Thunder is a torture chamber.

Reality Bites? The Cable Guy? Zoolander?Who handed Ben Stiller a budget to direct another feature? Oh, yeah. DreamWorks. Stiller’s performance range is neatly compartmentalized: there are nerds (Along Came Polly, Duplex, The Heartbreak Kid, Focker) and narcissists (Mystery Men, Starsky and Hutch, Dodgeball). As a director, he has become the annoying equivalent of Jim Carrey’s contorted face constantly interrupting the purposely placid fish-eye compositions in The Cable Guy. As Tugg Speedman, Stiller tries his best to shave the ham, while behind the camera he serves up platters of gristle.

The faux trailers that open the film make Robert Rodriguez’s work on Grind House look like SCTV and set the tone for 107 mins. worth of sophomoric lampooning. The controversies that surround the film are far more fascinating than the film itself. In March, Emulsion Compulsion reported that Caucasian actor Robert Downey, Jr. burnt some cork in order to play an African American character. The story, planted by studio rumor mills eager to spark word-of-mouth, caught my eye. I’ll see anything with Robert Downey, Jr. He’s one of our finest contemporary actors; on par with Johnny Depp. Can you believe that Downey and Depp have never worked together? It seems like such a logical pairing. Then again, if they should unite on screen, Jon Avnet would probably be hired to direct.

Playing an actor that “doesn’t drop character until the DVD commentary,” Downey never come close to embarrassing himself. He never has. As golden boy Kirk Lazarus, Downey isn’t playing a black man, but a self-absorbed Aussie movie star playing a black guy and that includes an at times “Uncle Tommish” vocal impersonation. Downey is allowed to get away with certain stereotypes because Brandon T. Jackson works opposite him in the Robin Quivers role. That’s more than I can say for Tom Cruise.

Before Monday’s screening of Henry Poole, several critics (save Duncan Sheperd who sat laughing to himself in the top row of stadium seats) were gushing over Cruise’s Jew-turn. Beneath a fat suit and bald cap, Tom transforms into the Scientological Phil Silvers, give or take a few rows of stubble. Apart from the ultra-orthodox sounding name “Les Grossman,” Cruise makes sure not to step on any Yiddish toes. He spouts a lot of “f-cks” while flapping his arms, but the satire is obvious and has been done before by better. (Rick Moranis as “Larry Siegel.” I rest my case.)

Continue reading Review: TROPIC THUNDER / Ben Stiller (2008)

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Filed Under Reviews, Theatrical

Ann-Margret says “Bye, Bye Career” by agreeing to star opposite Lindsay Lohan and Jack Black

March 9th, 2008 by Scott Marks

bye-bye-birdie.jpg

Lindsay Lohan took time out from fleeing the paparazzi to announce how thrilled she is to get the chance to work opposite her idol Ann-Margret in the upcoming comedy Ye Olde Times.

What is Ann-Margret’s manager / hubby Roger Smith thinking? Didn’t the couple notice what the LiLo affiliation brought Jane Fonda? Not that Jane didn’t deserve Georgia Rule, particularly after her anything but triumphant return to the screen in Monster-In-Law.

Starpulse quotes the young actress, whose floundering career has been plagued by public disgrace and big screen hari-kari, as saying, “I’m part of a film that Jack Black is involved in that is starting around April, hopefully. We’re getting the cast together now. I can’t say too much. It’s a comedy. Ann-Margret is a part of it and I’m very excited.”

For years Ann-Margret has been making the rounds on TV or appearing in small roles in sub-standard features (Taxi, The Santa Clause 3). Honestly, she hasn’t been in anything to my liking since John Frankenheimer’s 52 Pick-Up (1986). Her latest project, written and directed by a first-timer, proves that Hollywood is sinking lower and lower in its quest not to run out of originality. The imdb plot outline for Ye Olde Times reads: ” Two rival Medieval shows vie for supremacy in the world of Renaissance Faires.”

This actually sounds like a project that even Will Ferrell would have refused. Only someone with Jack Black’s comedic pedigree could elevate this material by running around flailing, screaming, making funny faces and exposing his gut.

ann-margret-lindsay-lohan.jpg

I actually like Ann-Margret and respect her for answering an adoring young actresses’ dreams by appearing with Lohan in a 2006 photoshoot. The similarities between the two women are striking, although to the best of my knowledge George Burns did not discover Ms. Lohan. Let go the vanity, Annie; don’t come out of semi-retirement and appear on screen in a clunker simply because some young chippie bears a resemblance. Chances are that in this case, flattery will get you nowhere.

Lohan names Kitten With a Whip as her favorite Ann-Margret picture. She must have missed Lookin’ to Get Out.

Ye Olde Times is in pre-production and will be unleashed sometime next year.

Tags: , , , ,

Filed Under News

Robert Downey, Jr. dons blackface to star in new Ben Stiller movie

March 7th, 2008 by Scott Marks

tropic-thunder.jpg
Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr. and Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder

No, that’s not Richard Roundtree standing between Jack Black and Ben Stiller, it’s none other than Caucasian Oscar nominee Robert Downey, Jr.!

Underneath the Afro wig and layers of Max Factor Tan No. 1, the 42-year-old actor is virtually unrecognizable.

London’s Daily Mail reports the plot of the film “centers on a group of pompous actors making the most expensive Vietnam war movie ever made. Fed up with their self-involved cast, the film’s makers drop them into the jungle to take care of themselves, where they get caught up in a conflict they don’t realise is real.”

In an interview with US Magazine Downey, Jr. said, “If it’s done right, it could be the type of role you called Peter Sellers to do 35 years ago. If you don’t do it right, we’re going to hell.” If it’s done wrong, we’re looking at another Soul Man.

soul-man.jpg
C. Thomas Howell

The showbiz blog Just Jared was outraged: “I’m not black and I find it offensive; are there not any talented enough black actors out in the world that they feel the need to hire a white guy to do a black guy?”

Where was the indignation when Eddie Murphy or The Wayans Brothers “white up” or is that seen as reparations for all of the times Hollywood actors slapped burnt cork on their faces to play demeaning stereotypes?

Spike Lee’s Bamboozled and Kevin Wilmott’s C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America appeared to have sounded the death knell for Hollywood’s heinous old saw with their definitive vivisections of movie stereotyping. Leave it to nebbish Ben Stiller to revive minstrel show aesthetics.

And what about Jack Black hitting the peroxide bottle or Hollywood allowing Stiller to once again assume the director’s chair after the disastrous Zoolander? Surely I can’t be the only one offended by those crimes against cinema.

Artistic experiment or a cheap device to drum up word of mouth to get butts in seats? We’ll find out when the Tropic Thunder opens on August 15.

Tags: , , , , ,

Filed Under News

NACHO LIBRE / Jared Hess (2006)

July 30th, 2007 by Scott Marks

unredeemed-garbage.jpg

NACHO LIBRE

Directed by Jared Hess

Written by: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess and Mike White

Starring: Jack Black, Ana de la Reguera, Héctor Jiménez and Peter Stormare

Running Time: 100 min.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

Whenever Groucho Marx was asked which of the thirteen Marx Bros. movies his favorite was, he always placed Leo McCarey’s Duck Soup at the top of the list. He was quick to point out that it was the only time in their career that the team was guided by a talented director. Contemporary comics need to listen to their elder’s advice.

After extensive research, I uncovered no relation between the Napoleon Dynamite director and Hitler’s deputy Rudolph Hess. It should have been apparent. Not only was Rudy a better dresser, no matter how warped it was, at least he possessed a vision. I’ve produced diarrhea with more consistency than Jared Hess’ “Nacho Libre.”

Jack Black (becoming more and more self-important with each passing film) plays Nacho, a man who grew from an abandoned orphan to staff cook in a Mexican monastery. In order to save the place from financial ruin, Nacho hatches a plan to make money as a Lucha Libre wrestler. How’s that for a high-concept screen story?

When not exposing his bare midriff, a prime source of the film’s feeble laugh-power, making funny faces and prancing around, Libre is forced to scavenge tasty nachos in order to top off the monasteries otherwise vile provisions. It is on one such hunt that Nacho encounters Esquelito (Héctor Jiménez), an emaciated beggar who functions best as a fraught attempt to come up with another merchandisable character like ND’s Pedro. I’m sure that the filmmakers took great delight in pairing fatty and skinny as tag team partners. No laurels for this barely hardy variation.

Continue reading NACHO LIBRE / Jared Hess (2006)

Tags: , ,

Filed Under Reviews, Theatrical