Goofs for
Tropic Thunder (2008) More at IMDbPro »

• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At one point, Tugg says one actor may win a Teen Choice Award, and claims that "they'll slime you and everything!". Teen Choice Award winners get surfboards. The Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards show is famous for sliming winners.
  
  
• Errors in geography: In the opening moments, we are told the location is "South East Vietnam." Later the specific setting is Quang Tri. During the Vietnam War, Quang Tri was South Vietnam's northernmost province. After reunification, it was in the middle of the country. Either way, Quang Tri is not in eastern Vietnam. "Province" is misspelled "Provence" twice, in screen graphics and on a map.
  
  
• Continuity: When Tugg Speedman talks to Kirk Lazarus, the backpack strap on his right shoulder is sometimes over the carabiner and sometimes beside it.
  
  

• Continuity: During one of the Les' rampages via teleconference, his wedding ring disappears and reappears a couple of times.
  
  
• Continuity: Before Kirk's group gets ready to set up camp after splitting up with Tugg, Jeff is seen holding his M60 by its strap. In the next shot, he's holding the weapon itself in both arms. In the next shot, he's holding it by the strap again.
  
  
• Continuity: After Tugg Speedman's performance of 'Simple Jack', he is in a room cleaning off his makeup. When he wipes his face with a wet towel, most of the white is gone. However, when he turns around to meet little half-squat, it has reappeared.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The Gap only sells merchandise under its own label; therefore, Alpa Chino could have not sold a line of "Alpa Chino chinos" at The Gap, as he claims.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Lazarus is talking to Tugg about 'Simple Jack' he claims that an actor should never go "full retard" and mentions Peter Sellers (“Being There”), Dustin Hoffman (“Rain Man”), Tom Hanks (“Forrest Gump”), and Sean Penn (“I Am Sam”) as examples. He claims that Sean Penn is the only one of those to go "full retard" and come away without an Oscar after being nominated. However, Peter Sellers did not win an Oscar for his role in “Being There” as well.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Tran says "Ni shi biandan Jack," he continues to say it as he turns to his crew/gang members, with "Ni" meaning "You." He should have said, "Ta shi biandan Jack," "Ta" meaning "He/She."
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Jeff Portnoy sees the mountain of Heroin he runs over and puts his fingers up by it. If you look at his fingers you can clearly tell that he has already dipped his hands into the fixture; possibly from an earlier take.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene where Pecker is talking to Tugg about the TiVo, Tugg's slider phone alternates between open and closed.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene where Tugg is stabbing the panda, he pulls the knife out of the panda but in the next shot the knife is back in the panda and he is mourning the panda's death.
  
  
• Continuity: During the opening scene, the helicopters are seen from the side and are initially "slicks", and empty. No troops inside, no rocket pods or machine guns mounted at the doors. After diving down and seen from the rear, the Huey's now have rocket pods mounted on the skids and machine guns hanging out of the doors. Further scenes show door gunners and some troops now inside.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Towards the beginning on the movie when the character gets disemboweled with a bayonet in the stomach, when the attacker removes the rifle (supposedly with the bayonet attached) it is obvious there is no bayonet attached to the rifle.
  
  
• Continuity: After the director and actors land in the jungle the director says he will shoot with his video camera. As he is talking and turning around the position of his hand holding the camera changes. First he holds it from underneath then as he turns and the films camera changes angles he is holding it from the top of his camera.
  
  
• Continuity: In the first shot of the film the three Hueys are empty but in the next, closer shot there are M60s machine guns mounted on both sides of all three, manned and firing.
  
  
• Continuity: When the gang are sitting and talking around the campfire, the water buffalo is behind Kirk. In the next shot the water buffalo is standing next to Kirk and he's petting it.
  
  
• Continuity: In the scene after Tugg (Stiller) split up from the group, the three can be seen walking through the jungle. Jeff (Jack Black) is walking at the end of the group and shot from 3 different angles while claiming he's tired of carrying the gun. The way of carrying changes between shots from hanging from his shoulder to holding in his hands.
  
  
• Factual errors: After the crew first spots the heroine processing plant in the jungle, Sandusky comments that they were in the chopper for hours flying to their drop point, however those Hueys only carry about 2 hours worth of fuel. So they either stopped at various points along the way to refuel (at which point someone might have noticed where they really were or were headed), or they flew for just under two hours and had a refuel point somewhere near the drop point (which also doesn't make sense seeing as how they ended up in/near "the world's hard drug superhighway"). Either way, the copter would have been at bingo fuel and wouldn't have been able to fly them all the way to the drop point, then back to the heroine processing plant, and then used to help them escape.
  
  
• Factual errors: At the end of the movie when the whole crew is in the helicopter and the kid fires an RPG at them, Cody pulls back on the cyclic (the joystick looking thing between his legs) of the helicopter and it shows them rising in the air to avoid being hit. However, pulling back on the cyclic wouldn't allow them to increase in altitude seeing as the cyclic controls the horizontal movement of the copter (forward and side to side), whereas the collective (a lever looking thing on the side of the pilot) controls the vertical movement of the copter (up and down).
  
  

• Continuity: SPOILER: When the group is about to leave the landing zone after the director is blown up, Kirk Lazarus is clearly seen removing his shotgun from his side holster. When the angle changes and we see the entire group in line, his shotgun is back in the holster and he removes it again.
  
  

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