Tropic Thunder

MUST-SEE: (Ben Stiller) I have to warn you that this review might be filled with many superlatives. First off, it is the best spoof on an action film I have ever seen. Secondly, it is the best construction of a cast I have seen in a comedy film in a long time. And, it is the funniest movie for a movie-lover out there right now. Take a most unique way of creating a plot, a group of ego-rich actors forced to really play their characters in a director's effort to dissipate diva attitudes. Combine that with the most unforgettable characters, Robert Downey Jr. as a white Australian playing a black man, a gay-yet homophobic-black rapper who "loves the P****" and his energy drink, Booty Juice, a one-hit wonder and struggling drug addict Jack Black, and a Will Smith-gone blockbuster-less turned Sylvester Stallone as Rocky the Millionth Ben Stiller. Whew. It gets better. Living up to all spoof expectations it delivers subtle blows to movies across the board and touches on personalities off-screen to include punches at stereotypical Hollywood personalities (great cameos by Matthew McConaughey as the personally attached Agent and Tom Cruise as the egg-head Film Exec). I can't say much more that wouldn't spoil this story for you, but I can encourage you by saying that this movie is about the characters, thus about people gathered on screen that complement each other in a way unmatched by any other. Stiller directs his ass off in a no-holds barred real-life role play. As the characters' whining begins, so does the fun, sending the group on a treasure hunt to the end of the script. Tropic Thunder is a mass of brilliant writing, unforgettable "action" and constant comedy, a worthy film evidenced by the nod for Downey Jr.'s race/self-confused Kirk Lazarus, and lastly, like any good comedy, deep beneath the laughter, a truly believable story erupts. Nah... But you'll be laughing too hard to care. Use this as an escape from the deep-rooted films too common during these Oscar months. It won't disappoint.