A group of rubbish actors are locked up in the jungle with a rookie director to film the memoirs of a ‘Nam veteran. When the director decides to spcie up things a bit by exposing the spoiled cast to the real threats of jungle combat, things go wrong: A real war starts, and it takes the actors a while to realise what it is all about.
There are a couple of good things about the film:
* the performance of Tom Katzenberg Cruise
* the perenially fabulous Robert Downey Jr
* perennially Nick Nolte’ish Nick Nolte
* The fact that the Ben Stiller character towards the end of the movie looks like a retarded Sylar out of Heroes
Apart from that, there is one great laugh, which is when the film’s director departs the scene. It is quite stunning how much production value can be used for not funny jokes and situations. Has there been a single funny comedy in 2008? But then again, reading through Ben Stiller’s oeuvre, no wonder, because out of the 85 entries in his list as an actor, there is not a single one that I both watched and enjoyed. Not one. ’nuff said.
Listen to the Kermode review
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