"Tropic Thunder"

DreamWorks

At Quality 16 and Showcase

4.5 out of 5 stars

It’s impossible to do justice to a film like “Tropic Thunder” in a review. While it’s the funniest movie in years, it just wouldn’t be right to leave it at that. This seemingly goofy action comedy from decidedly goofy director, co-writer and star Ben Stiller (“Meet the Parents”) is actually something far bigger. It’s an almost perfectly calculated satire — a film that works on more levels than you’d ever think possible, yet doesn’t linger at any of them — and will surely be seen as one of the most brilliant sendups of Hollywood ever conceived.

The film stars Stiller, Jack Black (“Nacho Libre”) and Robert Downey Jr. (“Iron Man”) as three very different actors on the set of a big-budget war movie in Southeast Asia. Stiller is Tugg Speedman, a fading action star looking to gain more credibility with a serious dramatic role. Black plays Jeff Portnoy, a coke-addicted gag comedian looking to do something similar, and Downey Jr. plays Kirk Lazarus, a highly accomplished Australian method actor who undergoes a skin pigment procedure to play a black soldier in the film.

The dysfunctional trio is joined by Alpa Chino (comedian and Detroit-native Brandon T. Jackson), a rap star who hawks an energy drink called “Booty Juice,” and quirky director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan, “A Cock and Bull Story”). With each of the stars’ unique pretensions causing production delays and mishaps, Cockburn faces heat from studio head Les Grossman (a brilliantly cast Tom Cruise). Under pressure, he takes drastic action, deciding to drop the actors into the middle of the jungle and film the whole movie “guerilla style” with hidden cameras. There’s just one problem: the jungle is infested with the real druglords who promise to bring unwanted authenticity to the movie’s battle scenes.

The brilliance of “Thunder” lies in its exactingly hilarious portrait of how movies are made. Rarely have audiences had the chance to witness so raw and unapologetic a depiction of everything we perceive to be melodramatic and hollow about Hollywood. Even a show like “Entourage” — a hugely popular production lauded for offering a first-hand glimpse into the star lifestyle — cannot offer true candor because it is, after all, a part of the world it depicts. “Thunder,” however, opts for true satire in the sense that it spares no one and does not stop for political correctness or moderation in its execution.

This pull-no-punches approach that is key to the film’s success is obvious in that many of the film’s stars are mocking actors like themselves. Speedman’s desperation and moronic opining is obviously a nod to the unflattering perception of Tom Cruise, post-Oprah’s couch. Cruise’s own take on a bombastic, stonehearted studio head is apparently based on Sumner Redstone, the infamous head of Viacom, whose feud with Cruise is well known. Such depictions are obviously exaggerations, but the way in which they embrace the root of Hollywood pretension is unique and something audiences will relish.

All this is to say nothing of Downey Jr.’s utter brilliance as self-absorbed “serious” actor Kirk Lazarus (think George Clooney or Russell Crowe). While his role has caused controversy because of the stereotypical manner in which he plays a black man (not to mention that he artificially darkens his face, which may remind some of the blackface minstrel charades of decades past), it’s important to note that it’s not just a stunt. Rather, it’s a complex satirical statement on how far some actors go to be more realistic (to the point of being completely false, as it were). The statement is completed beyond the point of misunderstanding by of the presence of Alpa Chino, a real black man who acts as a foil to Lazarus’s decidedly racist antics and turns out to be quite a complex character.

Less complete is the statement the film attempts to make about the depiction of mentally challenged individuals in movies. Speedman once played “Simple Jack,” an exaggerated version of Forrest Gump, and “Thunder” makes many jokes at the actor’s expense, lampooning him for taking on the role just to win an Academy Award. However, the stereotypes the film deals with (use of the word “retard” for instance) are never defeated, and, without the presence of a viable foil, the message here is muddled at best.

Despite that flaw, “Thunder” soars to heights few movies, let alone comedies, can dream of in terms of authenticity (ironic, of course, because it’s about how unauthentic the movie business can be). That success has everything to do with brilliant performances that hit just the right notes and exact meaning from truly outlandish setups. Just about every major actor in the film is as good as you’ve ever seen him. (Downey Jr.