“Tropic Thunder” — this summer’s Ben Stiller-directed hit about a motley crew of mega-stars who get more than they bargained for when they enlist in a big-budget Vietnam War flick — has offended its way to box-office success. Robert Downey Jr. spends most of the film in blackface, and the movie’s portrayal of the mentally disabled has drawn pickets. Jews aren’t spared, either — or at least not Jews of the obnoxious Hollywood mogul variety.
A heavily made-up Tom Cruise offers up a tour de force performance as an unscrupulous, megalomaniacal, profanity-spewing movie producer named Les Grossman. Entertainment Weekly opined that the role “could prove to be the best thing to happen to Cruise” since his Oscar-nominated turn in “Magnolia.”
The critics, however, weren’t all equally tickled by the Grossman character.
New York Times film reviewer Manohla Dargis called Cruise’s character “noxious” and wrote that the movie’s use of blackface is “much softer… compared with the rather more vulgar and far less loving exploitation of what you might call Jewface.”
“Heavily and heavy-handedly coded as Jewish, the character is murderous, repellent and fascinating, a grotesque from his swollen fingers to the heavy gold dollar sign nestled on his yeti-furred chest,” she wrote.
Slate’s Dana Stevens, however, cut the film more slack: “Maybe it’s because Stiller himself is Jewish, or maybe it’s just that Tom Cruise was so unexpectedly hilarious in that role, but that one rolled right off my back.”
Meanwhile, Seattle Weekly’s Brian Miller insisted that Grossman isn’t “an anti-Semitic stereotype at all — there are no Yiddish or Hebrew tokens; Grossman simply worships money, power, and (again) control.” Yep, no antisemitic stereotypes there — and, actually, The Shmooze went to see “Tropic Thunder,” and the Grossman character does, in fact, make passing reference to the Jewish holiday of Purim. (The Shmooze can also report that Cruise is, indeed, “unexpectedly hilarious.”)
Cruise’s next role, hopefully, will have less potential for offending Jewish sensibilities: In the forthcoming World War II film “Valkyrie,” his character plots to assassinate Hitler.
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Ben Stiller is not Jewish! His mother is an Irish Catholic and Ben was not brought up Jewish. He's also married to a non-Jew with non-Jewish children. Let's stop calling Ben Stiller a Jew!
Cruise was absolutely over the top with his character, he was hilarious and no one is going to come out of that movie saying, "See I told you Jews were like that" unless they already believe it. I didn't even realize it was Cruise until the end - he was one of the best parts of the movie. It was a stereotype, over the top, brilliant performance. Great movie.
Ari, we still have to decide who determines "Who is a Jew?" Orthodox and Conservative require that the mother be Jewish by birth or conversion; Reform accepts patrilineal descent and the individual considering him/herself Jewish. On the opposite extreme, the nazis would have considered Ben Stiller's children Jewish, for their requirement for being a Jew was one Jewish grandparent, and Jerry Stiller qualifies there. Many consider famous historical personalities like Felix Mendelssohn and Benjamin Disraeli Jewish because there fathers were Jewish, but both were practicing Christians. So again, who decides?
Halacha law clearly states that people like Ben Stiller aren't Jewish. I don't know on what planet his children wouldeven be considered Jewish. I repeat Ben Stiller is not Jewish!
From Wikipedia article Anne Meara: Meara was raised Catholic, but converted to Judaism six years after marrying Stiller. She has long stressed that she did not convert at Stiller's request, but because "Catholicism was dead to me", and she simply came to prefer the more "lively" character of Jewish culture. She took the conversion seriously and studied the faith in such depth that her Jewish-born husband quipped, "Being married to Anne has made me more Jewish." In other words: Lay off Ben's mom, willya?
I don't know on what planet his children would even be considered Jewish. Of course not. But the rest of us call it "Earth," as opposed to the fantasy planet that exists in your head. Stiller's father is Jewish and his mother converted to Judaism years before he was born. Thus, Stiller is a Jew, as least from the standpoint of halacha. It should be pointed out, however, that this is only so for those who practice the religion as it has been understood for centuries by the Jewish mainstream, not the toilet of religious fanatics who are obssessed by their never-ending assessments of who exhibits sufficient purity of Jew blood to be considered Jewish.
I remember Anne Meara remariking that Jerry's family had loved ehr so much that his grandmoterh taught her Yiddish from the side of a Streit's box. the real issue here is what is offensive. A person can be African American (on both sides ha ha) and if that person used several of the offensive terms for African Americans or invidiously stereotypical practices, etc, that would be offensive. His or her use of that does not clean it up. He or she is guilty of perpetuating meanness. No one should be given a pass on that. My children have to live with the fallout of that. And so do yours