Tropic Thunder(2008)
DreamWorks- RRated R for pervasive language including sexual references, violent content and drug material
- 1h 47m
Aug 13, 2008 | Wide
Through a series of freak occurrences, a group of actors shooting a big-budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.
Releases
Original Release | Aug 13, 2008
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Box Office Results
Updated as of Jun 17, 2025 06:33 PM ET
Results
$25,812,796
$110,515,313
$85,187,650
$195,703,351
Current Showtimes
orround
- Tue Aug 11
- Wed Aug 12
- Thu Aug 13
- Fri Aug 14
- Sat Aug 15
- Sun Aug 16
- Mon Aug 17
Director & Top Cast
Technical Specifications
Sound Mix: SDDS,Dolby Digital,DTS
Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1
Other Details
Country of Origin: United States,United Kingdom,Germany
Language: English,Mandarin
Summaries
Plot Summary
- Hook-handed Vietnam veteran Staff Sergeant John "Four Leaf" Tayback's (Nick Nolte) (The author of Tropic Thunder, a fake memoir of his war experiences on which the film-within-a-film is based. He suggests the idea of dropping the actors in the middle of the jungle to get them looking and feeling like soldiers lost in a foreign land) memoir, Tropic Thunder, is being made into a film. With the exception of newcomer supporting actor Kevin Sandusky, the cast-fading action hero Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) (Once the highest-paid, highest-grossing action film star ever due to his Scorcher franchise, his career has stalled, and he now has a reputation for appearing in nothing but box office bombs.After drawing negative coverage for his portrayal in Simple Jack, in which he plays a mentally-challenged farm boy, he takes the role of Four Leaf Tayback in an attempt to save his career), five-time Academy Award-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) (five-time Academy Award winner, Lazarus had a controversial "pigmentation alteration" surgery to darken his skin for his portrayal of the African American character, Staff Sergeant Lincoln Osiris), rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) (A closeted homosexual rapper who is attempting to cross over into acting, portraying a soldier named Motown, while promoting his "Bust-A-Nut" candy bar and "Booty Sweat" energy drink), and drug-addicted comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) (A drug-addicted comedian-actor well known for portraying multiple parts in films that rely on toilet humor, particularly jokes about flatulence and fart jokes)-all cause problems for director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) (he inexperienced British film director who is unable to control the actors in the film), who cannot control them, resulting in a million-dollar pyrotechnics scene being wasted.The project is months behind schedule. Studio executive Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) (The profane, ill-tempered studio executive producing Tropic Thunder) orders Damien to get the cast under control or risk the project's cancellation.On Four Leaf's advice, Damien drops the actors into the middle of the jungle, with hidden cameras and rigged special effects explosions to film "guerrilla-style". The actors have guns that fire blanks, along with a map and scene listing that will lead to a helicopter waiting at the end of the route. Unknown to the actors and production, the group have been dropped in the middle of the Golden Triangle, the home of the heroin-producing Flaming Dragon gang. Just as the group is about to set off, Damien inadvertently steps on an old land mine and is blown up, stunning the actors. Tugg, believing Damien faked his death to encourage the cast to give better performances, assures the others that Damien is alive, and that they are still shooting the film. Kirk is unconvinced but joins them in their trek through the jungle.As they exit the drop zone, they are attacked by Flaming Dragon militia who are dumbfounded by the crazy tactics of their opponents. Carefully placed C4 charges by Cody go off at the right time to save their asses. On the trek Kirk berates Tugg for going full retarded on "simple Jack" as per him retard is a good category, but you "never go full retard".When Four Leaf and pyrotechnics operator Cody Underwood (Danny McBride) try to locate the deceased director, they are captured by Flaming Dragon. Four Leaf is revealed to have hands; he confesses to Underwood that he actually served in the Coast Guard, has never left the United States, and that he wrote his "memoir" as a tribute.Tugg and Kirk both try to get rookie actor Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) on their side. A novice actor, he is the only cast member to have read the script and book and attended the assigned boot camp prior to the film. Kirk says Tugg is leading them in the wrong direction and Tugg alleges that Kirk is trying to torpedo the film.As the actors continue through the jungle, Kirk and Kevin discover that Tugg is leading them in the wrong direction. The resulting argument results in Kirk leading the rest of the cast back toward the resort they are staying at as an increasingly delirious Tugg is captured by Flaming Dragon. Just prior to that Rick calls Tugg on his satellite phone (which Tugg had hidden when Damien had confiscated all phones) and Rick got the impression that Tugg was firing him as his agent as he didn't deliver the TiVo, as was specified in his contract with Les.Taken to their base, Tugg sees CCTV cameras in the base and believes it is a POW camp from the script. The gang discovers he is the star of their favorite film, the box-office bomb Simple Jack, and force him to reenact it several times a day.Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Tugg's agent Rick 'Pecker' Peck (Matthew McConaughey) confronts Les over an unfulfilled term in Tugg's contract that entitles him to a TiVo. Flaming Dragon calls during the discussion and demands a ransom for Tugg, but Les instead delivers a profanity-laden death threat not knowing that Tugg has been kidnapped. Despite the threats, Les expresses no interest in rescuing Tugg and is instead happy at the insurance payout that would happen if Tugg dies. He attempts to convince Pecker to play along by promising a Gulfstream V jet and "lots of money".Kirk, Alpa, Jeff, and Kevin discover Flaming Dragon's heroin factory. Kevin reckons they aren't even in Vietnam anymore and may have crossed into Myanmar or Laos, as that's on the Golden Triangle. After witnessing Tugg being tortured, they plan a rescue attempt based on the film's script. Kirk impersonates a farmer towing a "captured" Jeff on the back of a water buffalo, distracting the armed guards so Alpa and Kevin can infiltrate and find the prisoners, but a combination of broken Chinese and inconsistencies in his story sets off the gang's boss. The actors, knowing their cover has been blown, begin firing, fooling gang members into surrender. Their control of the gang falls apart when Jeff (who has been a deprived addict for the last 2 days) grabs the leader and heads for the drugs, and the gang, realizing the guns fire blanks, recover their guns and fight back.Meanwhile Tugg doesn't want to leave as he is performing 5 shows a day to standing room only audience. Kirk is insecure as his hair and eyes are blonde and blue and he realizes that he is African American in name only. Jeff is insecure as he thinks people only laugh at his farts and is reluctant to re-enter that world. Tugg comes to his senses after the leader of Flaming Dragon stops their truck with a grenade launcher. He leads his "men" again.The four actors locate Four Leaf, Cody, and Tugg and cross a bridge rigged to explode to get to Underwood's helicopter. Tugg initially remains behind, believing Flaming Dragon to be his "family", but runs back screaming, chased by an angry horde. Four Leaf destroys the bridge, rescuing Tugg, but as the helicopter takes off, the gang boss fires a rocket-propelled grenade at the helicopter. Rick unexpectedly stumbles out of the jungle carrying a TiVo box and throws it in the path of the grenade, saving them. The crew return to Hollywood, where footage from the hidden cameras is compiled into a feature film, Tropic Blunder, which becomes a major critical and commercial success. The film wins Tugg his first Academy Award, which Kirk presents to him at the ceremony. Les celebrates 8 academy awards and $400MM at the box office for the movie.
Storyline
- Action movie star Tugg Speedman is on the downslide of his professional career. He wants to be considered a serious actor, but his latest serious role as the title character in "Simple Jack" resulted in negative reviews and ridicule. Comedian Jeff Portnoy is best known for his leading roles in sophomoric comedies, and may be less well known for his rampant drug use. Five time Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus is a serious method actor, who immerses himself in whatever the role. On location in southeast Vietnam, they are the stars of "Tropic Thunder", based on Vietnam war veteran 'Four Leaf' Tayback's memoirs of his rescue during the war, that rescue which was considered a near suicide mission for the assigned army force and resulted in him losing both hands. For his role, Caucasian Australian Lazarus even went through a controversial surgical skin dying procedure so that he could convincingly play a black man. Production is not going well since rookie director Damien Cockburn is unable to control the prima-donna attitude of his three stars. Cockburn and Tayback decide that the five primary actors - Speedman, Portnoy, Lazarus, rapper Alpa Chino, and newcomer Kevin Sandusky - need to work together as a unit as did their real life characters. The five are placed in the middle of the jungle, and with only a map and their prop machine guns in hand, are asked to work together to battle through the stunt pyrotechnics in their way. What none of the seven of them know is that they have been dropped into a real life drug war led by the Flaming Dragons. It isn't until Speedman is captured by the Flaming Dragons and tortured that they all realize that what they believed was make believe gunfire and land mines was actually real life. As the four actors try to figure out what to do concerning Speedman's situation, all five go through their own journey of self-discovery. Meanwhile, the movie's megalomaniacal profanity spewing producer Les Grossman and Speedman's faithful agent Rick Peck argue about what to do about Speedman's situation. And Tayback inadvertently shows a little of his true self. — Huggo Sgt. Fourleaf Tayback is the author of the international best seller "Tropic Thunder" detailing his accounts of the Vietnam War. Now that book has been turned into a movie. Directed by first time director Damian Cockburn, the film stars veteran action hero Tug Speedman, multi - character comedy actor Jeff Portnoy, star of the "Fatties Fart II" (more famous for his off camera drug addiction arrests than his acting), and three time Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus (famous for his total immersion style of acting) - fresh off his most recent Cannes film festival smash. Rounding out the cast is character actor Kevin Sandusky and rapper Alpa Chino, who in his spare time, hawks an energy drink known as "Booty Sweat". When filming the movie's climactic scene goes horribly awry with a pyromaniac blowing up the Vietnamese jungle side off camera, the film's director, with convincing from executive producer Les Grossman, and Sgt. Tayback himself, decide to take the film in a much different direction. Now shooting the movie guerrilla style, the actors are taken deep in the jungle. There, Cockburn is killed by a landmine, and Speedman is kidnapped by ruthless drug lords who are enamored with his box office flop "Simple Jack". The rest of the crew then has to band together to save Speedman - who are convinced they are a real army. Can they overcome their differences to become a real military unit, save Speedman, and win best picture? Or will they face the wrath of their hot headed, foul mouthed, executive producer? — halo1k Vietnam veteran Sgt. John "Four Leaf" Tayback's autobiography is being made into a film titled Tropic Thunder. The main cast consists of action-star Tugg Speedman, whose career is in stagnation, Australian Academy Award winner Kirk Lazarus, two-bit comedian Jeff "Fats" Portnoy, who has gained notoriety for his severe drug abuse, rapper Alpa Chino, and rookie actor Kevin Sandusky. Despite the massive amount of money pumped into the film, production is a month behind schedule, and director Damien Cockburn cannot keep the cast in order. After studio executive Les Grossman threatens to shut down the film for good unless Cockburn can get his house in order, Cockburn comes up with an unorthodox way of reshooting the film, which includes sending the five-man acting crew into the isolated jungles of Southeast Asia on their own. However, the actors don't realize that they have been sent into the Golden Triangle region, a drug-producing region where the Flaming Dragon cartel is operating. When the actors realize they are facing a genuine threat, they are forced to become the very soldiers they are portraying. — Sam To make the war movie to end all war movies, the British director, Damien Cockburn, assembles an A-list of prima-donna actors--Tugg Speedman, Jeff Portnoy, and Kirk Lazarus--to turn into a Vietnam epic the authentic memoirs of the burnt-out veteran, "Four Leaf" Tayback. However--with the movie already behind schedule, and the producer threatening to abandon the project--the ambitious filmmaker drops the cast in the impenetrable Vietnamese jungle to add a dash of realism, unbeknownst to them that the entire region is controlled by an armed-to-the-teeth heroin-producing gang. Now, amid a glorious improvisation extravaganza with live ammunition, the stars of the show will have to step up and work together for the first time in a long while. Do they have what it takes to get out of there in one piece? — Nick Riganas
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