If like me, you occasionally suffer from a bad case of the homicidal work-related blues, there's nothing like coming home from a crap day at the coalface with a leaky bag of Pad Thai, a couple of curry puffs and a pack of beer (those 450ml bottles of Grolsch are fabulous as you can always wash out the bottle and use it to glass your co-workers the next day...), changing into your jimjams and working your arse-groove into the couch to watch a DVD.
And you know what kind of DVD I'm talking about don't you? A goofy comedy, sparkly written, well-acted with plenty of colour, movement and texture that still makes you belly-laugh even after the thirteenth viewing. Everyone has a favourite or two. Here are mine. Enjoy.
Tropic Thunder: A pompous, out-of-his depth English movie director (Damian Cockburn, played by Steve Coogan) meets his untimely demise on the set of a Vietnam war epic, leaving a troupe of dingbat Hollywood actors to fend for themselves in a south-East Asian jungle, mistaken in their belief that they are participating in a gonzo movie experiment. They're so dumb, they continue to remain in character, swapping lines of inane improvised dialogue, thinking the trees have been rigged with cameras and mikes, even after circumstances prove otherwise. The group includes the monstrously insecure action film star Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) and pretentious Australian Method actor, Kirk "I don't read scripts, the script reads me" Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr - channelling a wonderfully compelling blend of Rusty Crowe and Peter O'Toole).
Tropic Thunder is chock-full of sly movie in-jokes and references, superb one-liners plus some flat-out fabulous visual gags - like Robert Downey Jr playing an African-American character in the Vietnam war film-within-the-film in full blackface and afro. His extended cautionary riff about actors playing fringe or handicapped characters in the belief that will automatically win them an Oscar is worth the rental fee alone:
"Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, 'Rain Man,' look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho'. Not retarded. You know, Tom Hanks, 'Forrest Gump.' Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. Plus he was a war hero. How many retarded war heroes do you know? Peter Sellers, 'Being There.' Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don't buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001. 'I Am Sam.' Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed."
Tom Cruise is the biggest surprise of all as the (unrecognisable) obnoxious, violent, chubby, bald studio executive Les Grossman (clearly modelled on Jeffrey Katzenberg) who is trying to leverage the on-set disaster for financial gain.
Hold your sides nice and tight or they will split.
Bowfinger: Goofy, perenially optimistic C-grade Hollywood movie director Bobby Bowfinger (Steve Martin) commissions a SF-alien adventure movie script titled "Chubby Rain" from his bookkeeper and part-time cabbie. Although he has at his disposal a bunch of has-been and wannabe actors (Christine Baranski is peerless as an unemployed B-Grade Gloria Swansonesque diva and Heather Graham luminous as a midwestern nympho with movie-star aspirations), what he really needs is to cast a big-budget, box-office action star to secure the interest of a studio. Enter Kit Ramsay (Eddie Murphy), big budget box-office action star who also happens to be paranoid, narcissistic, anxiety-prone and sexually obsessed with the LA Laker cheerleaders. Ramsay is also in thrall to a cult called MindHead, led by a smooth conman played by the dapper Terence Stamp.
Bowfinger's failed attempt to enlist the support of Ramsay in his movie venture leads to a cunning plan: covertly film Ramsay in his off-screen personal moments and then the splice the footage into his film. Only Bowfinger's gopher is aware of his plan. The other actors have been told Ramsey is method acting (his own unique style - "Cinema Nouveau") and will not engage with them outside of their scenes. So the actors walk up to Ramsay outside his home, in restaurants and in clothing stores and recite their lines, while his increasingly confused responses are secretly captured on film. Added to the crazy mix, is the casting of a Ramsay lookalike, who happens to be the star's lesser-known and sweet-natured twin brother Jiff (also played by Murphy).
The film is another opportunity to poke fun at Hollywood egos, star religions and general moviemaking lunacy, but there's a sweetness to Bowfinger's Z-grade creative ambitions and his desire to keep his merry band of losers in what he believes is good work. This is the ultimate pick-me-up.
And like Tropic Thunder, Bowfinger features one of my favourite actors - Robert Downey Jr.
Sprinkle some extra lemon on your Pad Thai and enjoy that second bottle of Grolsch.
