I agree on Tropic Thunder, a bit.
The initial trailers were super good and so Robert Downey Jr, but also the movie wasn’t too bad.
I enjoyed it and laughed and man, I knew it wasn’t Brothers Cohen’s work, it was Written and Directed by BEN STILLER, so I knew i had to expect FEW really good jokes and an ok-story.
And so it was.
When Jack Black propose to blow the other man for some dope I was really laughing out loud.

Ben Stiller knows his limits, so he plays the kind of character the people want him to play.
He directed Robert Downey Jr. knowing Robert will have the best part of the movie, so I find it humble and professional of him.

And I totally disagree with ZOOLANDER.

Sorry guys, but I laughed so hard for that movie!
He and Owen Wilson were at their best.
BEN STILLER himself wrote and directed it again, so HE KNOWS the jokes, he knows the “between the lines” parts and stuff…

-”When I was in 7th grade, I was… the fat kid in my class.”
“EEEWWW!!!”
“and then i became…Bulimic!”
“YOU CAN READ MINDS????”

-The “Zoolander school for kids who can’t read good”
-The gas-station fight
-He going back to work in a cave

Are just some of the really good jokes i remember….

I didn’t like Polly and other millions comedies he’s been in, cos other directors just want him to play the same character all over.

A sequel? NOOWAY!
no, it deosn’t need one.

But come on guys, you can not expect BENIGNI or WILLIAMS in every commedy.

Stupid comedies are sometimes really funny if you take them for what they are: STUPID.
Switch off the brain and enjoy the ride.

Borat, Zoolender, Anchorman (when Steve Carrell killed another journalist with a Triton I thought I died for laughing).
All really silly, all really funny to me.

But a sequel no, thanks.

The critics in Europe weren’t all that enthousiastic about the movie, but I still believed in it. And it all started well, in the first five minutes (fake trailers) I had tears in my eyes from laughing. No kiddin’, Satan’s alley?, my god.

But somehow it got stuck after a while. I was totaly in the mood for some great nonsens and kick-in-the-Hollywood-balls, but they stopped coming. They had a good idea, but didn’t do a thing with it … a shame, because it had so much possibilities. The jokes became lame, predictable and way to obvious.

Robert Downey Jr. had the best time of his life, doing this thing. Jack Black had his moments and Ben Stiller was … well, Ben stiller, but I thought he was OK. And oh yeah, Tom Cruise was funny. The first of the total three times he did that thing. Only, everything else wasn’t good. Poor written, poor directed, poor jokes. Yeah, I had a few good laughs at the beginning, but for me, ‘Tropic Thunder’ is one of the biggest let-downs of 2008. And I realy wanted to digg it, but I just couldn’t.

* Pfff, always hard to find the right words in another language.

But you’re right, and I remember in an interview clip, Stiller once said that he admits he’s not a funny man that can constantly be funny or cracking up jokes, he’s not a comedian like Robin Williams…
He himself said he’s not a funny man.

All he has going is what he can come up with, his material for his movies and then hope for the best.

The thing is.. his material ain’t that funny either.

I’d have to disagree on your take that THE CABLE GUY was funnier than ZOOLANDER..

What about Tropic Thunder? Have you seen it? Did you think it was hilarious or not? That’s Stiller’s work too

But in my honest opionion, I just think Ben Stiller should stop with being in movies, lol. I’m a bit sick of those ‘Ben Stiller is … Ben Stiller’ flicks. He falls down, runs, falls down again, makes a oogabooga-word, falls down again, runs, gets smashed in the face, falls down … you know. Where’s the comedian in this guy? It’s the written humor that overcomes his character that makes it kinda funny, but he -as an actor or funnyman- doesn’t add things to that, he does nothing to spice it up and isn’t making it funnier than the script is. I blame him for that.

I think it’s ironic that his one-face joke in Zoolander is like a mirror for his acting-skills, heck, even his entire carreer. Zoolander 2? No way.

But I still like Ramasscreen, though.