Comedians like to push boundaries until that very fine line of what is deemed acceptable and unacceptable is somewhat squeezed to its very limit. That, to me, is what the very best of comedy can do. Regardless of the situation that we find ourselves in today when it comes to what can and cannot be said, which is primarily being lead by 'activists' on social media, a movie such as Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" existing in this maddening stratosphere, released a little more than 10 years ago, shows just how much things have changed at the movies the last decade.
Every once in a while I try to remind people that a comedy like “Tropic Thunder” would just not be able to get made today. Not in this heavily politicized world. Sure, go ahead and disagree with me, but remember in 2018 when athlete Shaun White dressed up as Stiller's Simple Jack character for Halloween and caused total uproar, to the point where White had to issue an apology to the Special Olympics. This is real. This is the world we live in. Comedy is in dire straits at the moment.
However, if you ask Robert Downey Jr. himself, he seems to have no regrets putting on blackface for the movie. During a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, he explained,
“My mother was horrified,” Downey Jr. said. “‘Bobby, I’m telling ya, I have a bad feeling about this.’ I was like, ‘Yeah me too, mom.’ When Ben called and said, ‘Hey I’m doing this thing’ – you know I think Sean Penn had passed on it or something. Possibly wisely. And I thought, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that and I’ll do that after Iron Man.’ Then I started thinking, ‘This is a terrible idea, wait a minute.’ Then I thought, ‘Well hold on dude, get real here, where is your heart? My heart is…I get to be black for a summer in my mind, so there’s something in it for me. The other thing is, I get to hold up to nature the insane self-involved hypocrisy of artists and what they think they’re allowed to do on occasion, just my opinion.”
“[Ben] knew exactly what the vision for this was, he executed it, it was impossible to not have it be an offensive nightmare of a movie,” Downey Jr. continued. “And 90 per cent of my black friends were like, ‘Dude, that was great.’ I can’t disagree with [the other 10 per cent], but I know where my heart lies. I think that it’s never an excuse to do something that’s out of place and out of its time, but to me it blasted the cap on [the issue]. I think having a moral psychology is job one. Sometimes, you just gotta go, ‘Yeah I effed up.’ In my defense, ‘Tropic Thunder’ is about how wrong [blackface] is, so I take exception.”
For his role as method-actor-extraordinaire Kirk Lazarus, Downey Jr. was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, eventually losing to Heath Ledger for “The Dark Knight.”
It’s not just Downey who holds no regrets in his decision to star in “Tropic Thunder,” Ben Stiller as well seems to agree. Guesting on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show, back in 2018, the 52-year-old comedian told the radio host that "Tropic Thunder" "probably couldn't have been made today."
Re-watching the film this past weekend, one can’t help but feel like “Tropic Thunder” is now a landmine for triggered outrage waiting to happen. If the movie came out today in the “resistance” era, and bless Paramount for having had the chutzpah to release it just 10 years ago, many would miss the satirical sting of the film and delve into the facade of Stiller’s film. As Downey Jr. mentioned in the Rogan podcast, his character in the film, Kirk Lazarus, doing blackface was satirical about method acting. It wasn't just played for laughs. It had a purpose. Sadly, these days, intent doesn't matter as much as perception. There is a firm line as to what is deemed to be poor taste and what isn’t, the risk-factor of comedy is gone.
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