Dir: Ben Stiller   Stars: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr, Jack Black

Synopsis: Through a series of freak occurences, a group of actors shooting a big budget war movie are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.

Tropic Thunder sports a huge cast of heavyweights like Stiller, Downey, and Black --- as well as a supporting cast of secret extended cameo performers (one huge star steals a lot of the show...but I don't want to ruin it, so I'm not naming any names) as well as some of the best lesser known guys in the biz like Steve Coogan.  There are even cameos from everyone from Tobey Maguire (funniest part of the movie) and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

There is some really funny stuff here.  A fake trailer where Downey and Tobey Maguire play two monks in the throes of forbidden love is one of the funniest things I've seen in awhile.  When this movie is funny --- it's gut-bustingly hilarious, though there are some weaker moments where the comedy dies down in favour of the action.  The movie really shines when it's parodying Hollywood and it's stars.  Stiller plays a played out action star (think Stallone or Schwarzenegger), Jack Black plays a fart-based comedian (think Eddie Murphy and the Klumps) and Robert Downey, Jr. plays a 5 time oscar winner who uses method acting to really get into character.  In Tropic Thunder, his character has undergone a controversial surgical procedure to die his skin brown to play an African American character.  Some of these guys really take their characters to a whole new level of funny, and there are some great riffs on movies like Platoon and Apocalypse Now.

Of course, you must have heard about the controversy surrounding this movie by now.  Downey's character was criticized for being in "blackface" (see my last blog entry for the full details).  I think the offensiveness of this character was dispelled by the other African American character, who called him out at every turn.  This was clearly to make fun of actors who will go to any lengths to win awards, and the comedy was not aimed at the African American community.  NOW --- the second part of the controversy was due to allegedly offensive comments towards the mentally challenged.  Ben Stiller's character has starred in a movie called, "Simple Jack," about a mentally handicapped man.  There's definately some cringe-worthy gags in the movie, and the "R-word" conversation is among them.  Here's the rub --- it's a really funny scene about how to win an award playing a mentally challenged person, but it could be construed as being offensive.  It's nothing worse than you'd see on South Park, so it really depends on how easily you are offended.

Tropic Thunder is a big, loud, crude comedy --- but unlike some of the dumbed down garbage I am forced to see, Ben Stiller and writer Justin Theroux have done a great job of crafting a move that makes sense, has deeper than normal characters and a workable plot.  This is a great example of a crude comedy done properly --- if the laughs had been a bit more consistent, then it would have been a home run.

3 and a HALF dorks out of 5 on the Geek-o-Meter.