Tropic Thunder (2008)

I first started watching this film last night but only managed to watch the first thirty-five minutes before dozing off. I gave up and finished it today. When I fell asleep I hadn't laughed and I didn't laugh at all today either.

When director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan and yes, his name is the funniest thing about his character) is handed control of Tropic Thunder, an adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Vietnam veteran John "Four Leaf" Tayback (Nick Nolte), he has to deal with the massive egos of his leading actors. Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller, who also co-wrote and directed the film) is a washed-up action movie star with an inflated opinion of himself. In what could have been a good role, Stiller gurns and shouts his way through the film and his character grates more than almost any other. Robert Downey Jr. plays the only decent character, multiple-award winning Australian method actor Kurt Lazarus, who undergoes pigmentation surgery to play a black character. The utterly offensive aspects of this aside, Downey Jr. is the best thing about the film. He delivers the film's best lines (both of them) and he's a good parody of method actors. Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) is a rapper-turned-actor with a line of energy drinks to sell. His character gets old after five minutes. Finally, Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) is the only character that can make Tugg Speedman seem bearable. A "comedy" "star" and the most obnoxious and unlikeable character I've seen in years, Portnoy is an overweight drug addict and incredibly unpleasant. Ben Stiller's character may be annoying but Portnoy is absolutely unbearable. The stars prove impossible to deal with so Cockburn drops them into the middle of the jungle to make the film guerrilla-style. He's promptly killed by a landmine and the actors have to travel through the Vietnam jungle, debating about whether they're still on set and Cockburn faked his death or if they're lost in the jungle and the people firing at them are real drug-producing guerrillas (they are).

Maybe Stiller should have spent less time thinking up outlandish characters, ridiculous scenarios and silly films-within-the-film and more time writing jokes. The first thirty-five laugh-free minutes dragged on but the subsequent hour and twenty-six minutes were almost unbearable. Tropic Thunder is a parody of big studio excess but it ends up becoming what it tries to lampoon. A big-budget production filmed over several months in Hawaii, the film is an utter failure. It doesn't work as an action film because there isn't enough action and what few gunfights and explosions there are aren't enjoyable because they're either painfully and unintentionally fake or they're played for laughs and they just don't succeed. It doesn't work as a satire because the characters are so bad and the endless ramblings and wanderings in the jungle quickly turn tedious. It doesn't even work as a comedy because it's not fucking funny! As I said, Robert Downey Jr. is the best thing about this film. Tom Cruise, though good and unrecognisable as studio head Les Grossman, doesn't have anything to work with. He swears a lot and has tantrums. Hilarious. Matthew McConaughey as Speedman's agent is probably the best of the supporting cast that also includes Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky, a young actor also trapped in the jungle with the divas and the spectacularly awful Danny McBride as Cody Underwood, the film's weapons expert.

It's been a long time since I saw a comedy film that didn't make me laugh once. Painfully unfunny, dreadfully bad and chock-full of characters that make you want to tear your face off with a rake, Tropic Thunder is one to avoid. If you're that determined to see Robert Downey Jr. in blackface, you can probably find his scenes on Youtube. Otherwise, avoid this film like the fucking plague. This film will take two hours of your precious life and give you nothing but bad memories in return.

2 out of 10.

21 Jump Street (2012)

This Reviewer has never seen the original 80s TV series of the same name. In fact, I wasn't even aware of its existence until a few days before I went to the preview screening. Armed with the flimsy knowledge that a) it existed and b) Johnny Depp was in it, I really had no idea what to expect. If you're in a similar situation and you're concerned that there will be too many in-jokes or that you won't be able to keep up with what's going on, don't be. For the similarly uninitiated, picture a high school comedy-cum-buddy cop film made jointly by Judd Apatow and John Hughes.

Geeky Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and jockish Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum) are the typical odd couple. Enemies in high school they become best friends at police academy as they realise that their only hope of graduating is with the help of the other. After graduation, their utter ineptitude sees them sent back to high school as part of the undercover "21 Jump Street" programme. Their mission: posing as students they must infiltrate the school's dealers and find out who is supplying them with the new drug HST. Oh, and they can't get expelled or sleep with a student or teacher. The movie's fifteen minutes old and you already know that they're going to end up taking the drug and doing at least one of the two forbidden acts.

When it began, I thought I'd accidentally walked into a screening of Superbad. Jonah Hill's geeky and awkward character tries to ask the hot girl if she wants to go to the prom with him and all I could think about was her morphing into Jules asking him to use McLovin's fake ID to get booze for her party. 21 Jump Street starts pretty slowly, introducing Morton and Greg, going from high school to police academy and their first arrest. It doesn't start badly and their botched drug bust is fairly funny but it's not until they go back to high school that it finds its rhythm and the laughs start coming. They're occasionally a bit hit-and-miss and the film meanders off on tangents that go on a bit too long but the hits are more frequent and more memorable so as to compensate for the misses.

Perhaps the best part of 21 Jump Street is the pairing of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. I couldn't think of a more unlikely buddy cop pairing if I tried, but somehow it works. They play off each other really well and Tatum even comes off as the more likeable as Hill's character drifts off into arrogance and self-aggrandisement towards the end of the film. Of course, when they arrive back at high school they get their identities mixed up so Morton ends up playing the stellar athlete and Greg the science geek. Their teachers, Rob Riggle's gym teacher, Chris Parnell's drama teacher and Ellie Kemper's chemistry teacher are hysterical and slightly underused but the best supporting roles come from Dave Franco (younger brother of James) and Brie Larson (Envie Adams in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) as two of the popular kids. Here's where the John Hughes influence comes in. Unlike back in Morton and Greg's day, the jocks and the sports stars are not the most popular kids, the environmental activists are. It's a welcome change from the tired old stereotypes. In fact, when Greg accidentally commits a hate crime on their first day, no-one bats an eyelid that a student is both gay and black. Roles within the social hierarchy are reversed as Morton suddenly becomes one of the most popular kids in school and Greg finds himself hanging out with the science geeks. Then come the Breakfast Club-style lessons about fitting in, being yourself and the value of friendship. It meshes surprisingly well with the Superbad-style toilet humour (N.B. I mean that literally, there's probably the best gross-out toilet scene since American Pie on the half-hour mark) to round out what could otherwise have been a standard teen comedy.

Given that I had absolutely no idea what to expect, I was very pleasantly surprised with 21 Jump Street. It's very, very funny and if you go into it looking for just that, you'll have a blast. I still randomly burst out laughing when I think about Korean Jesus.

8 out of 10.