The Reject Report: Tropic Thunder Preview

Posted by John Cairns (jcairns@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 13, 2008

Welcome to another special early edition of the Reject Report! Don’t you hate these early editions?! Well, I hate them, because once again I have to sit at home and try and make weekend predictions way ahead of time for some movie rolling out on a Wednesday evening, when what I really want to do is relax and watch the Olympics on TV! This week, it’s Tropic Thunder rolling out early. So what I plan to do is provide my preview of Tropic Thunder and predict how it will do over the next five days, and I’ll save the rest of my predictions for my regular Friday column.

Tropic Thunder rolls out on 3,000 screens midweek, and it’s the latest Ben Stiller attempt at box-office glory. It’s his attempt to get back on top after the debacle that was the Farelly Brothers’ The Heartbreak Kid. That flick didn’t even win the weekend! So this one may have a shot at doing better. Here, Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, a lame action-movie actor who is trying to switch over to more serious pictures. He’s joined by other prima donnas and pampered actors who are trying to put together this lame Vietnam war movie — a movie in which everything goes totally wrong. In a last-gasp move, the director decides to send these idiots out into a real-live war zone in a final attempt to get this war movie back on track. And then the fun really begins.

The cast features Robert Downey Jr. as Australian actor Kirk Lazarus — a character who, in the war movie being filmed, actually portrays a black man in the film. Also in the cast is Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte, and Tom Cruise in a hilarious cameo.

From what I gather this movie is wildly politically incorrect — too much so for all the people associated with mental disabilities groups such as the Special Olympics and the American Association of People with Disabilities. These special interest groups have already picketed the premiere, and stories about their disgust are all over the press. The mental disabilities crowd take particular offence at one word in particular uttered in this movie, a derisive term for mentally-challenged people which I simply call the “R” word. So they are calling for a boycott of this movie!

Personally, I think these folks are a little too uptight and should take life less seriously. Still, I have a problem with people using the “R” word in general. These folks who use the “R” word strike me as people without class. In short, you look like an “R” by saying the word “R”!

(As an aside — this flick is rated “R”.)

Anyway, I don’t think this brouhaha will affect the box office very much, because the politically correct people weren’t going to see this flick anyway. Basically, the market for this movie consists of young people who want to be offended! They find offensive humor funny! So I think Tropic Thunder is in prime position to finish in first place and do the same kind of business that Pineapple Express did last week. My prediction is a five-day haul of $44 million for Tropic Thunder, finally toppling The Dark Knight. But I could be wrong and end up looking like a - dare I say it - fool!

Incidentally, The Dark Knight’s already been toppled from first place at the theaters. Pineapple Express rebounded to finish first on Monday with a $3.8 million haul, pushing The Dark Knight back to second again. So this could be it for our Caped Crusader friend this weekend, finally, after four weekends in a row in first place.

That is all for now. I’ll have much more to say about the Friday releases coming up, including that animated Star Wars flick and that Woody Allen pic where Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz get to kiss onscreen!

Yes, guys, life is good at the movies. Until Friday, have a good one.

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