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Before You Laugh...
"As a director I love all the visual and technical stuff and it's really fun to do but the hard lesson that you learn when you screen the movie is when it's a comedy, people want to laugh. They don't care about the explosions up or how much money you spent...if they're not laughing, the movie's not working. Everything has to play into the tone of the comedy." -- Tropic Thunder director-star-cowriter Ben Stiller during last weekend's press junket.
Ben Stiller
And yet the fact that Stiller made Tropic Thunder feel believable and well-jiggered in a first-class way let me relax on a certain level. If the action choreography, special effects and cinematic values hadn't been delivered on such a high level, I might not have been in a receptive laugh-y mood. I can't laugh at movies that feel in the least bit sloppy or imprecise or roughly slapped together. Comedy is a brutally difficult thing to get right.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 5, 2008 at 10:50 AM
comment #1
Edward says ...
Stiller comes from good comedic stock. TROPIC THUNDER looks great, can't wait.
Posted by Edward at August 5, 2008 11:51 AM
comment #2
JVD says ...
Stiller has always had a pretty assured hand behind the camera, even as far back as "The Cable Guy" and "Reality Bites." Much of that is probably attributed to his television work.
What surprises me is how much of a pass Judd Apatow gets for the visuals in his films. While both are funny, the two camera, flat-lighting aesthetics of both "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" is what keep both of those films from seeming kinda thrown together. Just an observation.
Posted by JVD at August 5, 2008 12:19 PM
comment #3
Terry McCarty says ...
JVD wrote:
What surprises me is how much of a pass Judd Apatow gets for the visuals in his films. While both are funny, the two camera, flat-lighting aesthetics of both "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" is what keep both of those films from seeming kinda thrown together. Just an observation.
And Apatow had veteran DP Jack Green (known for his work for Clint Eastwood) on 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN. I guess the camerawork couldn't get in the way of endless improv takes.
Posted by Terry McCarty at August 5, 2008 12:55 PM
comment #4
D.Z. says ...
Ben, Meet the Fockers didn't work for me, so can I get my money back?
Posted by D.Z. at August 5, 2008 1:55 PM
comment #5
Discman says ...
What to say about this film? It is better event than Jeffrey has indicated. Plotwise it's a little silly, but in terms of the laugh-o-meter, it's completely off the charts! It may be the only comedy I've seen where the pre-credits and post-credits -- or should I say, end credits (what plays under the credits, and not what comes afterward) -- are possibly the highlights. One sets the tone perfectly, and one ends the film with a career moment for the actor on screen.
Posted by Discman at August 6, 2008 7:27 AM
comment #6
Discman says ...
Even, not "event." I really should use the "Preview" function a little more often.
Oh, it occurs to me that "Raising Arizona" has the best pre-credits sequence of any comedy I've ever scene, but it goes for 10 or 20 minutes. "Tropic Thunder" catches you off-guard in a way that "Raising Arizona" doesn't. You'll understand when you see it.
Posted by Discman at August 6, 2008 7:29 AM
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