Walking onto the massive set was an eye opening experience for Stiller, but its biggest impact wasn't the spectacle of the production, but rather the self-seriousness of the actors pretending to be gritty soldiers. The idea stuck with Stiller for years, and in an interview with NPR ahead of the film's release, Stiller talked about how this ironic spectacle of actors LARPing as troops has only grown more absurd because of the proliferation of "fake boot camps" before production: Stiller took this commonplace practice to its most absurd conclusion, sending a cast of preening, prima-donna actors into the middle of a "real" war zone, only to come face-to-face with a dangerous drug cartel, and the result is one of the 2000s best comedies.
Author: staff@slashfilm.com (Rusteen Honardoost)
Published at: 2025-08-02 23:00:00
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