No movie in recent years has poked fun at, mocked and downright dragged the good name of Hollywood through the mud, laughing all the way quite like “Tropic Thunder”.  In a time when theaters are overpopulated by comedies that somehow have Judd Apatow’s name attached to them, “Tropic Thunder” is Apatow-free, but it still retains that gleeful sense of vulgarity that audiences seem to now love so much.  Not only does “Tropic Thunder” work with that vulgarity, it soars with it, easily making this the funniest movie I’ve seen so far this year.

In this laugh-a-second action comedy directed by its star, Ben Stiller, the very idea of Hollywood is taken for a ride.  “Tropic Thunder” also happens to be the title of a war movie being shot in the film, its cast a hodgepodge of movie stars.  There’s the action guy, Tugg Speedman (Stiller), the star of countless special effects-driven films that have gradually lost steam and the star of “Simple Jack”, a box-office dud centered around a retarded farmer.  Next is Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), a comedian famous only for his film flatulence but yearns for more respect for his name.  Then comes the five-time Oscar winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), an intense method actor who undergoes a controversial skin pigment alteration procedure in order to play the film’s main black character.  This really ticks off the cast’s real black actor, a rapper who goes by Alpa Chino (say that name out loud).  Anyway, the fed-up director (Steve Coogan) gets the idea from  the writer of the film’s source material (Nick Nolte) to take his actors out into the real “battle zone”, a jungle rigged with hidden cameras and shoot the entire film “guerrilla style”.  The only problem?  Well, the actors are mistaken for D.E.A. operatives and get caught up in a war against Korean drug runners, with good humor all the way.

Well, the real gem of “Tropic Thunder” is Robert Downey Jr., who shines as Kirk Lazarus.  In the hands of any other actor, I think the role could have easily gone off the rails as a result of stereotyping, but thankfully, Downey Jr leaves stereotypes of any kind at the door.  He’s black, but in a tasteful manner as he spews profanity, talks about collard greens and takes offense when Speedman says “you people”.  Downey Jr never overplays it, and his many arguments with Alpa Chino and the other cast members are sure to have everybody in the audience gasping for breath while laughing hard; the audience I saw the film with certainly behaved that way.  Downey Jr has always been one of my personal favorites, despite his personal problems, and I’m happy to see him back on his game.  He’s on a roll this year with “Iron Man” and now this.

However, that’s not to say that everybody else is just mediocre, because they’re not.  “Tropic Thunder” has a lot of funny performances, in addition to great cameos which are really supporting roles.  Matthew McConaughey has a good one as Tugg Speedman’s spaced-out agent, whose primary concern seems to be getting his star a Tivo.  And the other one that I just have to talk about is Tom Cruise as a vulgar, mean-spirited studio executive with no hair and quite a bit of paunch.  Cruise gets great laughs, both from his profane demeanor and his weirdly funny dance moves.  And suffice it to say that this role is one of the highlights of Cruise’s career.

Stiller both acts and directs perfectly for this material, as he amazingly makes us forget that he helmed the god-awful “Zoolander” back in 2001.  Stiller is clearly mocking Hollywood as best he can, and having fun with it.  The way the actors, agents and studio executives are portrayed in this movie will have film buffs such as myself cracking up continuously.  The film opens with clever fake trailers that introduce each actor to us, and they are hilarious.  Ben Stiller really does have a sense of what notes to hit for this movie, and it all winds up being a comedy experience for those interested in the film.

So, would I see “Tropic Thunder” again?  Definitely, because even though you can pretty much catch every joke about the movie industry the first time through, I think there’s still some subtlety underneath the surface of these jokes that cannot be picked up in the first viewing.  What Stiller has done is essentially created a biting commentary on Hollywood itself, one that always has something funny and interesting to say about how the studios operate and how actors can be taken as something they don’t want to be.  But the trick is that Stiller, who also co-wrote the screenplay, does so in a very fast-paced manner, hitting us with jokes left and right as he makes his point.

In the end, I would gladly take “Tropic Thunder” over other crude comedies like “Knocked Up”.  The movie is a laugh-riot with a LOT of F-bombs and other four-letter words, but that works here…somehow.  I know, crudeness and profanity actually working for me is something that rarely happens.  But I guess you could say “Tropic Thunder” is that rare type of comedy that I can say with all confidence that I loved.

[Rating:4]