By Linda Winsh-Bolard
Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), a star with waning career, attempts to make Vietnam War movie in the tropics to revive his former shine. Albeit the efforts are thwarted by the combined egos of the producer, the director and mainly the juvenile minded stars.
Pushed by the studio executive (Tom Cruise) to the brink, the director (Steve Coogan) decides to drop his “grunts” in the middle of the jungle with a map, surround them with mounted cameras and shoot the action live.
Unfortunately his use of “The Lost Patrol” takes on a new meaning when he steps on an old French land mine. His sudden demise loses the actors’ only connection to the base while it alerts a nasty group of poppy-heroin growers to the group’s existence. The drug pushers think the actors are narcs out to get them.
The film plays with comical aspects of accidentally interwoven real life and Hollywood perception of reality. As neither group is aware of the circumstances for a quite a bit, some of it is truly funny. Some is boring and some odious; depending how good is your knowledge of the film history. A solid trivia memory is good, as is an absolute lack of knowledge about what goes on behind the scenes of movie production. The more you know about the former, and the less about the latter, the more fun the film will be.
Despite Ben Stiller’s multi role in the movie, the most talked about is Tom Cruise’s small part of a studio producer. Balding sleazy who shakes it all around, single-minded insolent whose aim is money at all cost, is portrayed with cruel accuracy as the only opponent of equally single-minded drug cartel operatives. Their leader is the cool twelve years old newcomer Brandon Soo Hoo. Unlike some, let’s say some more legitimate organizations within the US, the studio executive is a true surprise for the drug lords.
And Cruise is believable, ridiculous and funny.
So is Ben Stiller, who, unable to believe that the script and director might be an illusion, and that his life have become a reality show for real, pushes on with the lines and the role he still thinks he is playing. Matthew McConaughey, whose parts usually require nice sets of muscle and dumb smile, surprises in nicely toned part of Stiller’s agent. The dialogs these two have are some of the best in this film. In a sharp take on the ambitions and racism, Robert Downy Jr. is not only not black, but also not blond or Australian. He is an able actor. His colleague and nemesis in the film, Brandon T. Jackson, is a nice acting surprise.
Before this satiric comedy even had the chance to get around, controversy was already surrounding it. In an absurd show of its own, the film is accused of demeaning the mentally disabled. Downey, as Kirk, points out that actors who have won Oscars playing the mentally challenged "never go full retard” and that Speedman’s bid for an Oscar went down the drain the moment he went “full retard”. I see the irony of those who cannot perceive an absurd comedy for it is, but do not object to gore, explicit sex and demeaning of women. After all, it is “Simple Jack” that saves the day for the troupe.
The film make-up crew deserves a shot at Oscar, possibly not the Oscar the producers dreamt about, but a deserved one. That was one part of the film nobody can dispute.
Director: Ben Stiller; Screenwriter: Justin Theroux, Ben Stiller, Etan Cohen; Story by: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux; Director of photography: John Toll; Cast: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Steve Coogan, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Brandon T. Jackson, Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, Bill Hader, Brandon Soo Hoo; Producer: Stuart Cornfeld, Ben Stiller, Eric McLeod; Executive producer: Justin Theroux; Production designer: Jeff Mann.Music: Theodore Shapiro; Costume designer: Marlene Stewart; Editor: Greg Hayden.
