Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder memorably satirized both the Hollywood war film and the often ridiculous lengths actors will go to in order to “capture” the characters they’re playing. While the notion that Robert Downey Jr’s Kirk Lazarus would dye his skin to play an African-American might be hard to swallow, it wasn’t entirely out there fourteen years ago. Hollywood’s self-seriousness was arguably at its zenith at this moment in time, and Stiller’s film brilliantly satirizes some of the more infamous performances of the era, such as Sean Penn in I Am Sam, Eddie Murphy in Norbit & The Klumps, and more.
In the summer of 2008, Tropic Thunder was wildly expected to become one of the highest-grossing comedies ever made, as the hype around it was off the charts. Remember, this was an era when comedies were making 300-400 million at the box office. The R-rated comedy was king, and many also expected an Oscar nomination for Downey (the expected blackface backlash wasn’t as bad as some thought, as people generally got the joke).
In the end, it made over $100 million domestically, which was a good result, but with the worldwide grosses factored in, it likely only broke even (although one assumes it was a hit on home video). But, Downey Jr did indeed receive an Oscar nomination for his role (he lost to Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight), and fourteen years later, it remains Ben Stiller’s highest-grossing film as a director and one of his most beloved hits. It’s a damn funny film (with Tom Cruise as you’ve truly never seen him before in a Harvey Weinstein/Scott Rudin satire that went over a lot of heads back then), and we dig into it in this episode of WTF Happened to this Movie! This episode is narrated by Dave Davis, written by Brad Hamerly, and edited by Juan Jiminez.
Let us know what you think of Tropic Thunder in the comments!
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