Written by Humphrey McGonigle

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Not a Ben Stiller fan, nope-a-roony. I give the guy A for effort, but cinematically he has been offering diminishing returns to audiences for years. He stretches bad skits and comedy routines until they are cringe-worthy and anti-funny, sort in the same vein as the Will Ferrell approved method of "half-ass effort/whole paycheck" school of comedy cinema. Stiller overdoes the physical comedy to the detriment of the joke payoff sometimes – watching Stiller can be enduring, frustrating and exhausting instead of entertaining. Name any of the pre-Tropic Thunder films he has starred in to understand my point.

I say it now, I say it loud, Tropic Thunder is a funny ass movie. I haven't laughed so hard or consistently in a long time. There is a lengthy set-up of characters and plot, but the payoffs payoff, big time. You can nitpick at some plot elements (who the hell told Jack Blackhe was funny?) but then you just missing the forest for the trees and the planet for the breeze – comedies are for laughing.

The best comedy I have seen in a long time and worth every cent of a $12 ticket, I nominate and elevate Tropic Thunder to a class of cinema distinction, to a class of films precious to the enjoyment of sobriety-impaired individuals like myself – movies that rawk when you watch them stoned.

So, verily, I nominate Tropic Thunder to the category of "The Best Movies to Watch While Toasty…Nice And Toasty". I am usually stoned to the bone when I go to the flicks, but only every once in a while does a film, comedy, horror or drama or whatever, really accentuates and intensifies the high. At the end of the year, after other films have joined this list, I will nominate the best film of the year to light a blunt to – the first annual Nice & Toasty awards.

Tropic Thunder is about a group of pampered actors who are stalling the production of a war movie – the production is already a month behind schedule only a few days in.  British comedian Steve Coogan is the director of this war film-within-a-film, "Tropic Thunder", and in a attempt to get some control he drops the cast into drug trafficking/border fight territory in Vietnam, so the cast will learn what real fighting is about in a realistic environment.

The cast are all a mixed bag of film genres: Stiller plays the action movie hero type, Robert Downey Jr. plays the serious, Oscar winning method actor who gets lost in his role and Jack Black is the gross out comedian who makes Eddie Murphy style "fatsuit" comedies. After Coogan dies in a horrible accident, the cast is left by themselves, mostly unaware of how much serious danger they are in. After running into Vietnamese drug traffickers, Stiller is kidnapped and it is up to the cast to save him.

There is a lengthy period of setup and character development, but it pays off in the execution of the film. The first few minutes of the film are mock trailers that set up what type of movies each actor specializes in are absolutely hilarious – really not what you would expect. Stiller's direction is competent and keeps the viewer engrossed into the story

Downey Jr. is again incredible. His role as Kirk Lazarus, an Australian Method Actor who has his skin darkened to portray a black man, caused mountains of controversy earlier this year, but Downey Jr. handles the task with zeal. Watching RDJ lose himself in a role, even in absurdist comedy, is a joy to behold. You will laugh. Also, casting Brendon Jackson as a rapper/actor who resents a white man cast to portray a black man helps explores more sides to the controversy, plot-wise.

Surprisingly, you will not be offended by RDJ's blackface performance. What actually got people to picket and protest Tropic Thunder was Stiller's bit in the movie where his action movie tough guy tries to do a serious film portraying a mentally retarded boy in the mock film-in-a-film "Simple Jack." Take my word for it, Stiller will make you laugh and simultaneously make you hate yourself afterward. You are warned.

Jack Black was functional, I guess, I just don't see where this guy is funny. I think he ignores his true calling – he has a hell of a voice and is an incredible singer. But he pigeonholes himself releasing those silly comedy/rock albums – I really want to hear this guy rawk out.

The cameos in this film are surprising and very welcome – Matthew McConaughey is hilarious as Stiller's agent. But the biggest cameo in this film – sheee-it, I have to say this film would be quite the more diminished without him – belongs to Tom Cruise. Yeah, you read right. Cruise plays a callous movie exec bankrolling the doomed film-in-a-film and he will have you laughing your ass off. Funniest cameo of the year, hands down.

I have to give Ben Stiller his respect – he directed a fun-ass comedy and coaxed great comedic moments from his actors. Go see this and overtoke a doobie before you do.