To my mind, Tropic Thunder (2008) is the boldest, strongest, and flat-out funniest comedy that Ben Stiller has directed. While it satirises an easy target – Hollywood excess – it does so in such a savage and unrelenting fashion that on some … Continue reading REVIEW: Tropic Thunder (2008)
Ben Stiller’s third directorial feature, Zoolander (2001), makes an even larger shift towards straight-up comedy. His cynical touches of social commentary remain, but the core narrative is much more exaggerated and deliberately silly than anything undertaken in The Cable Guy (1996). The … Continue reading REVIEW: Zoolander (2001)
In Ben Stiller’s second feature as director, Matthew Broderick plays an architect who moves into a new apartment – only to find himself tormented by the man (Jim Carrey) who comes to install his cable television. The Cable Guy made history at … Continue reading REVIEW: The Cable Guy (1996)
In the 1990s the Hollywood studios made tentatives steps towards making the ultimate “Generation X” film; something that could capture the zeitgeist of disaffected Americans in the 20s in a way that John Hughes’ popular teen dramas had captured their … Continue reading REVIEW: Reality Bites (1994)
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