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Satire vs. Spoof
"From Robert Downey Jr.'s purposely racist embodiment of African-American anachronisms to Jack Black's scatological humor, everything in Tropic Thunder qualifies as satire, not spoof. It's an important distinction. Pauline Kael once noted that 'unlike satire, spoofing has no serious objectives; it doesn't attack anything that anyone could take seriously; it has no cleansing power.'
"Thus, the movie opens with inane fake trailers to introduce its fictional stars, surpassing the ones in Grindhouse for espousing actual ideas. Director-cowriter and star Ben Stiller offers a catharsis for everyone overburdened by bombastic storytelling, but even when the movie becomes playfully self-reflexive, it remains a keenly layered narrative.
"He returns to the movie-within-a-movie-within-a-movie metafilter so many times that the gimmick forces you to pay close attention and believe in the events as they transpire, without sacrificing the absurd edge of the equation. Jumping back and forth between Grossman's office and the jungle, Tropic Thunder recalls the comical dread of Dr. Strangelove, where Stanley Kubrick cut between the war room and a nuke-wielding B-52. This one could have the subtitle How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Blockbuster." -- from Eric Kohn's review on premiere.com, posted yesterday.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 8, 2008 at 11:29 AM
comment #1
StanGrossman says ...
Plant.
Posted by StanGrossman at August 8, 2008 12:05 PM
comment #2
EB says ...
This movie isnt worth it
Posted by EB at August 8, 2008 12:23 PM
comment #3
iamwhoiam says ...
TT is a classic. Some people actually get it.
Posted by iamwhoiam at August 8, 2008 1:19 PM
comment #4
Glenn Kenny says ...
Not to put too fine a point on it, Mr. Kohn appears to have consumed several different varieties of Kool Aid.
"Tropic Thunder" is funny, all right, but it barely so much as gums the hand that feeds Stiller, Cruise, Black, et. al. If Kohn wants to believe there's anything genuinely subversive about it, he's so high he'll never come down.
Posted by Glenn Kenny at August 8, 2008 2:16 PM
comment #5
Jonathan Nail says ...
So my going to see the movie in blackface would be in poor taste?
Posted by Jonathan Nail at August 8, 2008 3:01 PM
comment #6
PerfectTommy says ...
Haven't seen TT, but looking forward to it. But sorry, Eric, but I think only in Hollywood would summer blockbusters be a target for satire with a moral equivilancy to nuclear war.
Posted by PerfectTommy at August 8, 2008 3:36 PM
comment #7
BurmaShave says ...
PINEAPPLE has failed me, I'm pulling for TROPIC to be the comedy of the year.
Posted by BurmaShave at August 8, 2008 3:40 PM
comment #8
Chicago48 says ...
Saw it last night and the whole audience including myself couldn't stop laughing. You gotta get it to understand its silliness. All actors were in their rightful element and Robert Downey Jr. was great.....although he'll probably catch hell from the black press....great writing by Ben Stiller.
Posted by Chicago48 at August 8, 2008 8:34 PM
comment #9
D.Z. says ...
I like how it's a satire when Downey does it, but it's racist when Aaron McGruder does it.
Posted by D.Z. at August 8, 2008 9:00 PM
comment #10
romeoisbleeding says ...
I am with Burmashave. Just got back from the Pineapple Express.. had some good laughs but a bit of a let down. Hoping Tropic Thunder ends summer on a better note.
Posted by romeoisbleeding at August 8, 2008 9:31 PM
comment #11
JapAdapters says ...
Man, I hope this is good. PE was so bad we walked out ... people actually like that movie???
Posted by JapAdapters at August 9, 2008 8:20 AM
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