The cameos… incredible, from Tyra Banks to Lance Bass and so much more. Kudos to Robert Downey Jr., a performance deserving of his Oscar nomination. But there were also great supporting roles for Nick Nolte and Tom Cruise, too. Ben Stiller and Jack Black, on the other hand, you can keep.

Robert Downey Jr pretty much steals the show on this one. Just a terrific performance. Sadly, the film would have been much stronger if a a couple of things had been changed: 1) if Jack Black’s character had been played pretty much by anyone else 2) if Ben Stiller had not been, as usual, too over the top here when he needed to be more subtle.

Tom Cruise does a great job at playing a jerk, but he just creeps me out. The part with Cruise dancing in front of Matthew McConaughey was hilarious for the look on McConaughey’s face though. The last solo dance scene Cruise did just left me thinking “Is everyone laughing at this guy and he’s the only one who doesn’t seem to get it?”

Overall, some wonderful social commentary, some very funny moments, and a few things that fall flat. As comedies and parodies go though I would definitely recommend it.

That’s right, dance number. As performed by one of the “actors” I hate more than any other—Tom Cruise. He’s 2% forgiven for all the other crap he’s perpetrated on us over the years.

But there’s more! Robert Downey Jr. blew me away AGAIN on many many levels. There’s his dead-on take-down of Russel Crowe. There’s his delivery of completely off-the-wall lines “you’re shredded like a julienne salad!”. There’s his ridiculous send-up of token African American character sterotypes.

Normally I’m entirely allergic to Ben Stiller but the movie did a fine job of insulating me from him, with lots of great distractions like the aforementioned dance number, Jack Black’s ridiculous capering as a junkie in withdrawal, and Nick Nolte doing a wicked self-parody.

Lots of sly little nods to Apocaplypse now, as you might expect, but also digs at lots of other movies via the mock
previews at the beginning of the movie, which were almost too ridiculous to be borne. Again, worth at least your matinee dollar for those alone.

My one real quibble? Not enough Steve Coogan. Ever since the brilliant “Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story” I’ve been a huge fan, and was hoping to see a lot more of him here.

But it all comes back around to the dance number, which made me twitter on coming out of the theater: Tropic Thunder = As wrong as Borat. And I laughed just as hard.

Ben Stiller Stars, co-writes and directs this comedy romp. I am a big fan of the writer as director thing. I think the film ends out turning out a lot better this way. The Cast is rounded out with Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus, Jack Black as Jeff Portnoy, Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky and Brandon T. Jackson as “Alpa Chino”. Tom Cruise has a bit part as a douche bag movie exec and Mathew McConaughey keeps his shirt on for his role as Stiller’s Tivo obsessed Agent.

The fake movie trailers at the beginning of the movie are a riot. Especially the Toby Mcguire one. Normally I think Jack Black and Ben Stiller both need punches in the cock. But Stiller was as stupid as he was in Zoolander and Black wasn’t so annoying this time around. I think Robert Downey Jr. steals this movie, “I’m the Dude, Playing the Dude, disguised as another Dude.” Love it! He plays roles and voices seamlessly.

Tropic Thunder – Worth Consuming. Comedy of the year 2008. Don’t miss this one.