Matthew ShallueDoes Tropic Thunder make up for Ben Stiller's past cinematic wrongs?
This is because Stiller is not naturally funny. This is not his fault, he just isn't. Kudos to him, then, for making it to the top of the Hollywood comedy tree, but I get the feeling that Thunder would have been funnier had Stiller cast a genuinely funny person as the fading action hero. Or even better, an actual action star - I can only imagine how close to the bone Bruce Willis could have taken the character. Hell, Hugh Jackman, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, or even Tom Cruise (yeah, I know his support role is kinda funny, but what about really turning the celebrity apple cart over?) would have all ripped apart the role as the not-so-clever leader of the fake battalion.
Instead, we get Stiller rehashing the angry bits from Mystery Men and Dodgeball, the out-of-his-depth chump from There's Something About Mary and the stupid looks from Zoolander. Ben, enough with the furrowed eyebrows already! We know you're not really that stupid, you've done just about everything but wink at the camera in the middle of the scene so that we know you're just acting! Please, please, please, act properly (if you'd like some tips, watch Robert Downey Jr for a little while and I'm sure you can pick something up) and let the situations be funny. But really - stop with the eyebrows and googly eyes thing. It's been shitting me for years.
So my answer is a resounding MAYBE! Yes, Stiller is a great writer with a brilliant comic intuition, and his direction, while workman-like, is getting better. However, his acting is stuck in the same spot for the last ten years. To wit - did ANYONE see him do ANYTHING new in these films?
Not really....
Hmmm, nope.
Dammit, even the posters are the same! Add these to Night at the Museum and other forgettable cinema, and we come to realise that Stiller is the most appropriate name for the hero of this blog. Come on, Ben, even the novice knows that repitition should never go beyond three!
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i will echo your comment on my blog and say "I totally agree".
Stiller is not funny and if he had cast someone else in his role the film would have been a treat, instead of a snack.
If it wasn't for Downey Jnr I doubt i would have given it the kudos i did.