Ben Stiller’s portrayal of a mentally handicapped man in new movie Tropic Thunder has provoked anger from disability groups. Stiller’s character, an actor, takes on the role of Simple Jack in the movie, who is referred to in marketing material as a “retard”. The description and portrayal prompted a number of organizations to protest to bosses at studio ...

It appears that with Tropic Thunder just over a week away from its theatrical release, not everyone is laughing at its often ridiculous premise. In fact, it appears that some groups have now started to come forward to speak out against elements of the film they feel to be insensitive and inappropriate. And no, we are not talking about the part where actor Robert Downey Jr. portrays an ...

Ben Stillers new movie ‘Tropic Thunder’ has provoked a great deal of anger amongst disability groups over his portrayal of ‘Simple Jack’, the character that he plays. This has lead to a number of organisations making a protest to the Dreamworks studio bosses, who have agreed to a meeting over the marketing material where they have referred to his character as a ...

Well, that was fast: Mere days after first drawing attention on a disability issues blog (and eventually going under magnifying glasses at the NY Times and here at Defamer HQ ), DreamWorks's mock Web site for Simple Jack is gone . The site had been part of the studio's complex interweaving of Tropic Thunder tie-ins, with its "Once upon a time... there was a retard" tagline tipping the story ...

Disability-issues blogger Patricia Bauer reported this weekend that DreamWorks has agreed to meet with advocates about their concerns over Tropic Thunder and its subplot in which actor Tug Speedman (Ben Stiller) makes a blatant Oscar move in the form of Simple Jack , a movie in which he plays a bucktoothed dolt. We tend to read the subplot as a fairly funny take on I Am Sam, Radio, and other ...

Ooh, the politically correct police have put the clamps down on “Tropic Thunder,” and more specifically on “Simple Jack” – the meta and fake, movie within the movie that stars the dull-witted Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller’s character) as a sweet mentally challenged boy who overcomes various obstacles. As previously noted, Stiller’s Speedman character is ...

After disability advocate groups raised issues with Tropic Thunder 's repeated use of the word "retard" and other offensive terms to describe a role played by Ben Stiller's character in the movie, DreamWorks has agreed to meet with them. It's almost certainly too late to change the actual film, which comes out a week from tomorrow, but Vulture reports that the first casualty appears to be the ...

As if I didn’t want to see Tropic Thunder enough already, today they released six clips, including the one I've included after the jump featuring Robert Downey Jr. (in blackface) explaining to Ben Stiller why “You never go full retard.” If you need a better reason to watch the clip than that, it's probably not going to work out between us. [Courtesy of RopeofSilicon ] 

Courtesy of DreamWorks Disability-issues blogger Patricia Bauer reported this weekend that DreamWorks has agreed to meet with advocates about their concerns over Tropic Thunder and its subplot in which actor Tug Speedman (Ben Stiller) makes a blatant Oscar move in the form of Simple Jack , a movie in which he plays a bucktoothed dolt. We tend to read the subplot as a fairly funny take on I ...