When Hollywood Gets It Wrong

Anyone who knows me well knows I love Ben Stiller. Zoolander, There's Something About Mary and Dodgeball are amongst my favourite films EVER. So it was with heavy heart that I was forced to miss going to see Tropic Thunder last year (can't remember why but I'm guessing illness had something to do with it) and so when it arrived in the post via Lovefilm I was excited about watching it. Well, I'm glad I didn't waste my entrance fee as I think I would have demanded a refund.

Tropic Thunder rates amongst the worst films I've ever seen. If you're not familiar with the story it's about a band of actors (Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr, Jack Black and a couple of other guys) who are filming a Vietnam movie in the jungle. Their acting is so appalling that the guy who wrote the book the film is based on suggests they're placed in the real jungle amongst the rebels who are still fighting and are forced to act for real. That's at least what I think it was about. The story was so muddled that I lost track half way through. The rest of the film concentrates on their attempts to find a way out (I think).

Everyone raves about Tom Cruise as the balding, overweight Les Grossman, the producer of the film, but to me the only shining star was Robert Downey Jr as Kirk Lazarus. Lazarus is an amalgum of Russell Crowe and Daniel Day Lewis; those actors who take their roles so seriously they immerse themselves in the character and even remain in it off set until the movie is finished. Lazarus is playing a black guy and has even had his face pigmented to make it more authentic. I know blacking up isn't PC but Downey Jr is so bloody convincing that all the way through I had to keep reminding myself that he was a white guy playing a black guy. Without him, I think I would have given up half way through.

Another odd performance comes from Matthew McConaughey who was brought in at the last minute to replace Owen Wilson after his suicide attempt. And all McConaughey does is ape Wilson as though he's channelling him through his body. Not sure why he couldn't just play it as himself. I have to say it's a shame Wilson couldn't do it because he cracks me up and I think he would have also brought a bit of light to this somehow dire film.

It is literally like everyone has thrown ideas into a hat, pulled some out at random and just filmed a bunch of scenes and lumped them together. The ending is rushed and without giving it away, I'm not quite sure why Stiller's character wins an Oscar.

Tropic Thunder just smacks of back slapping amongst a bunch of Hollywood luvvies who thought it would be good to parody the industry and all it ends up being is one great big in-joke that doesn't work.

But I still love you Ben.

On another note. I have started the early drafts on my new novel Liverpool. It's a bit of a departure for me, set in the early part of the twentieth century and at the moment it tells the tale of a young middle class woman who comes to live in Liverpool with her parents and while her mother is trying to get her to marry a wealthy man, she becomes involved in helping the people living in the slums and en route becomes friends with a young girl who goes on to become a movie star. That's the shell of it at the moment, but knowing me I will add bits in or change my mind completely. One thing I do know is that this one is going to an agent before I even consider Self Publishing. I'm so tired of doing my own promotion and concede that I need a bit of help.

Finally check out my interview with Kelly Moran at http://authorkellymoran.blogspot.com for a chance to win a copy of Two Become One.

Have a great weekend y'all