See this is what we’re talking about, people. This skit is funny! It’s Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. from last night’s MTV Movie Awards show pretending their making a viral clip for “Tropic Thunder” – the movie they all star in later this summer. In the clip, Stiller comes up with these wacky ideas to promote the movie online (using elements of RDJ’s “Iron Man” and Black’s “Kung-Fu Panda”) and taps his “genius” and hip-to-the-interweb streets nephew Carl for insight about what the “kids” like. Basically it involves an assault on Black’s balls and getting hit in the groin is always, always going to be funny (and RDJ’s turn as a self-obsessed RDJ thanks to Iron Man’s success is hilarious).
But Stiller’s incessant mugging in the clip and his hammy, “viral!” whisper to the camera every two seconds (dude, it’s funny like once, why do you have to over do it always?) is exactly why we’re not convinced that the war comedy “Tropic Thunder” is going to be as genius as it should be. As we’ve said a million times now, the concept behind the movie is priceless, but with Stiller, writing, directing and worst of all acting in it, it’s it just doomed to cornball failure? This could end up being the biggest missed opportunity in comedy in decades. Someone muzzle this fucking guy.