I just saw it and gotta' say I don't smell any Oscars anytime soon.
It was funny enough, but not the comedic gem I was hoping it would be.
That said, it was pleasantly and flippantly un-p.c. in that it managed to make fun of a ton of stereotypes without seeming outwardly prejudiced.
I can get down with that as I, myself, am an equal-opportunity offender.
I can get down with that as I, myself, am an equal-opportunity offender.
I was first intrigued to see it after having read an article by some hifalutin friend of a friend who knows somebody who is mentally disabled and took it upon himself to write an op-ed piece condemning Thunder's use of the word retard.
Now I have to qualify my next statement by saying that, jokes aside, I understand that the hardships faced by those who suffer from mental diseases and or disabilities are monumental and should not be discounted by those looking for a few cheap laughs.
Heck! I live right across the street from a facility that caters to the needs of the mentally challenged (I know, I totally live on the wrong side of the street..honestly, though. wanna' guess how many time a day I walk out the door muttering, "there but for the grace of God").
I have seen some sad families come and go.
Okay, qualifying done.
I have used the word retard. It's in my humble lexicon.
The alternatives for the word are few. Disabled connotes that you are useless. Mentally challenged connotes that you are a run-of-the-mill human being. What's not to challenge your mind in this world that we inhabit? Shit's challenging!
Oddly, I only became comfortable using the word since my move to Rhode Island.
I am from the South which, as you know, has a long history of racism and general backwoods unseemliness. But there has arisen out of that (and of course there are still rogue redneck quarters where shit hasn't moved past the Emancipation Proclamation) a certain Southern shame. You know the expression, "A northerner says fuck you and a southerner says bless your heart"? It's a deflection mechanism in the South. There really is an air of southern gentility that masks the ugliness of bigotry where as in the North it's all out on the table.
Nothing is veiled here. I have not heard so many ugly racial/sexual/epithets spouted in the 25 years I lived down south as I have since the five I have spent here.
All that said, I really did love how Tropic Thunder left no politically correct stone completely tossed to the curb.
For Chrissake, Robert Downey Jr. is a black man, and at one point a Vietnamese man, and at yet another a Mel Gibson look-alike (I dunno' if it's just me or did you get the sense he was parodying Mel Gibson's zealotry when he was acting as the gay priest...p.s. the opening sequence of Tropic Thunder was the most wonderful 10 minutes of movie magic I have ever sat through...I need some booty sweat, STAT!).
The more that I think about it the more that I realize that this movie might actually be brilliant.
It's a comedy, sure.
But it makes fun of itself and the entertainment industry in general.
I just adore that they picked war to be the genre.
Lemme' get this out of my system.
I have seen quite a few legit war movies. My mom used to teach a course on it.
I know, right? Why couldn't I get into that school?
Actually, now that I think about it..."Mom, why couldn't I get into that school"?
But every time I see one at the theaters and one of us "good guys" blows up a village or something equally offensive, the crowd goes positively hoo-rah! wild.
Guess what? That shit is based on the reality of war.
Killing people is not okay! War is never, ever cool.
Even if it's got wicked awesome sound effects and explosions!
I just dismounted my high horse.
I would like to end this blog entry by making an admission I never thought was possible.
Tom Cruise didn't suck.
Nothing is veiled here. I have not heard so many ugly racial/sexual/epithets spouted in the 25 years I lived down south as I have since the five I have spent here.
All that said, I really did love how Tropic Thunder left no politically correct stone completely tossed to the curb.
For Chrissake, Robert Downey Jr. is a black man, and at one point a Vietnamese man, and at yet another a Mel Gibson look-alike (I dunno' if it's just me or did you get the sense he was parodying Mel Gibson's zealotry when he was acting as the gay priest...p.s. the opening sequence of Tropic Thunder was the most wonderful 10 minutes of movie magic I have ever sat through...I need some booty sweat, STAT!).
The more that I think about it the more that I realize that this movie might actually be brilliant.
It's a comedy, sure.
But it makes fun of itself and the entertainment industry in general.
I just adore that they picked war to be the genre.
Lemme' get this out of my system.
I have seen quite a few legit war movies. My mom used to teach a course on it.
I know, right? Why couldn't I get into that school?
Actually, now that I think about it..."Mom, why couldn't I get into that school"?
But every time I see one at the theaters and one of us "good guys" blows up a village or something equally offensive, the crowd goes positively hoo-rah! wild.
Guess what? That shit is based on the reality of war.
Killing people is not okay! War is never, ever cool.
Even if it's got wicked awesome sound effects and explosions!
I just dismounted my high horse.
I would like to end this blog entry by making an admission I never thought was possible.
Tom Cruise didn't suck.
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