The thing to get out of the way right away as a Catholic film reviewer when talking about Tropic Thunder is that there is a fake trailer in it for a film involving two gay Catholic monks in the Middle Ages.  Like the entire movie, it is meant to be comedic.  I am not sure I can emphasize enough the word “meant.”  After all, this is a movie that features a character named Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), who undergoes “pigmentation alteration” in order to portray an African American soldier in this movie-within-the-movie of the same name.  Put simply, he performs in blackface.  To be fair, the awful nature of this choice is pointed out in the film, but this feature has raised some eyebrows over the years.  There is another faux preview for a different character, Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), who does a drama about a special needs person named Simple Jack.  That, too, has drawn criticism.  If you are not sure what is happening right now, know that what you are watching in Tropic Thunder is the filming of another flick of the same name.  For more clarity, I recommend reading further.

There is not much about the beginning of this movie that screams Tropic Thunder.  Indeed, with commercials creeping into streaming services, I thought the opening ad was not part of the film until I saw the name of the product: “Booty Juice.”  It is part of a set-up to give you four of the five principal actors that will be starring in the eponymous flick.  As to that, we shift to modern-day Vietnam where they are shooting the ending, which, spoiler alert (sort of), will be exactly what you see at the conclusion.  Kirk and Tugg are sharing a moment after Tugg has seemingly sacrificed himself for his men.  Because Kirk is the performer with the acting chops, Tugg, who is more known as purely an action star, is trying to “out-drama” his co-lead.  It turns into bickering, and an exasperated Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), the director, tries to get everyone back on track as the expensive explosions detonate in the background.  They are only five days into the production and they are already a month behind.  The delays prompt a meeting with the volatile studio head, Les Grossman (Tom Cuise), who has one of the key grips punch Damien in the face.  Sitting in the background is the grizzled veteran Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), who wrote the book on which this is based.  That night, as Damien ponders how to get the prima donna actors in line, he sees Four Leaf by a camp fire.  The author is upset, believing they are not getting the proper realism.  To achieve this, Four Leaf convinces Damien to take the five main cast members deep into the jungle and film them in actual fear inducing situations.  The set’s explosives expert, Cody Underwood (Danny McBride), also travels with them to add the effects they anticipate needing.  They are set down by helicopter in a clearing far from civilization.  However, as Damien is beginning to explain what is expected of the performers, he steps on a landmine and is blown to pieces.  While the others are shocked, particularly since Damien’s body all but disappears in an instant, Tugg believes it is all part of a new filming method.  Meanwhile, observing their movements are members of the Flaming Dragon heroin operation.  Their attack is also mistaken to be part of the script, and the actors begin firing their blank ammunition wildly in their attackers’ direction.  It is the pyrotechnics set up by Cody that save them this time as the Flaming Dragons run away into the forest, capturing him and Four Leaf in the process.  Believing he is the one that needs to take charge, Tugg takes the map provided them and attempts to lead them in the direction Steve had told them to go.  Before too long, it is evident that they are lost.  As this becomes clearer, Kirk talks to Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), the young, up-and-coming actor that did what the older performers had not: gone to boot camp.  Once Kirk manages to steal the map and Kevin confirms they had been going in the wrong direction, Tugg assumes they are all giving up on the movie and goes his own way.  Doing so only leads him to getting captured by the Flaming Dragons.  He is taken to their leader, Tran (Brandon Soo Hoo), a twelve-year-old boy who also loves Simple Jack.  Because of this, Tugg is forced to perform the demeaning movie to the delight of those in the drug camp.  Meanwhile, Tugg’s agent, Rick “The Pecker” Peck (Matthew McConaughey), is trying to figure out what happened to his client.  Going to see Les, they get a call from the Flaming Dragons demanding ransom.  Tugg is horrified when Les refuses to pay, attempting to bribe the agent with a cut of the insurance money they could get out of the tragedy.  As Rick ponders what to do, the rest of the cast finds the Flaming Dragons village.  They plan a prison break, and it is left to Kirk to retrieve Tugg.  What the former finds is a latter who has become enamored of the supposed love the locals have for him playing Simple Jack.  It takes some talking to on Kirk’s part, including him dropping his character finally, in order to get Tugg to come with them.  Still, there is a moment when Tugg thinks he is going to stay with the people who praised his Simple Jack, only to come running back in terror towards the waiting helicopter about to be flown by Cody.  As Tugg flees, he is trying to beat the bridge blowing up, being thrown by the blast at the last moment.  Kirk comes to help Tugg the rest of the way in a scene mimicking their first one.  This all ends with Tugg accepting an Academy Award for a documentary made about this mishegoss.

Given the fact that Tropic Thunder has blackface and gay monks, I am not sure what to say about it from a Catholic perspective.  And this is all without even mentioning Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), the drug addicted fart comedian who is somehow shoehorned into this movie.  I guess, if nothing else, I could speak to the absurdity of Kirk as a character.  At one point, he makes the claim that he never gets out of character until they film the interviews for the commentary on the digital video disc (DVD).  What he is talking about, from a certain point of view (and believe me, I know I am grasping here), is identity.  As an actor, he goes to some extreme lengths to assume all the characteristics that go into whatever role he is trying to fill.  This includes the blackface, and changing his speech patterns from his native Australian accent.  It takes going through an extreme situation for him to realize the absurdity of his actions.  One way in which they are absurd is that they are false.  The only way we can truly know ourselves in through God, which is a foreign concept to this movie and why it is hard to analyze as I would typically do.  Besides, it is not like there has never been any Hollywood performers who remained faithful to Church teachings, though it seems like that is made increasingly harder today.  I recall seeing a post on Twitter (now X) from Lady Gaga with her holding a Rosary.  As it turns out, that was just her speaking to her Catholic roots in a troubling moment.  What I am referring to is the need to identify fully with your Faith before anything else.  That is more important than any movie role.

One can say that all the characters in Tropic Thunder learned that there are things bigger than their movie careers by the end.  While nice, it is still not a reason to see the movie.  I know there are many out there that love it, but I am not one of them.