MOVIE REVIEW: "Tropic Thunder"

I've been excited about seeing Ben Stiller's latest directorial attempt, Tropic Thunder, for months. With a cast that includes himself, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey... why wouldn't this movie be freaking epic? And guess what. It was. I pretty much died during the fake movie trailers at the beginning of the movie, featuring each actor in a project they did before the war film based on the novel of the same name, Tropic Thunder. Although Ben Stiller was apparently a little preoccupied with directing the film to make his character as hilarious as the others, he did a pretty good job on the film. (Plus... would someone tell me where the hell those muscles came from?) I did enjoy the trailer for Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown and the snippet from Simple Jack. Holy crap. That is all I can say. Anyone who has seen the movie will tell you that Robert Downey Jr kicked some serious comedy ass. For one, he plays a pretty impressive black man. Seriously, if you didn't know it was him, you'd think he was actually African-American. Kudos to the makeup department for that as well. Plus, the five lines in the film where he's got an Aussie accent- rawr, mate. Also, I laughed really hard during the trailer for Satan's Alley. Man. They really pulled out all the possibly-offensive-to-one-group-or-another stops for this movie. Well done Ben Stiller. Well done. I've never been a huge Tom Cruise fan. His movies just don't do anything for me. Sure, he's got a killer smile... but the guy is a bit looped. His insanity likely came in handy for the role of billionaire Les Grossman. And his performance, in a word, was B-rilliant. He was a bald, spectacled, pudgey, angry, foul-mouthed man with lots and lots of money and authority. I giggled uncontrollably whenever he used "the F word". (I would gladly throw out some of my favorite Les Grossman quotes right here, but I wouldn't want to offend anyone.) And his awkward gangsta dance moves at the end of the film? Classic. Jack Black has played the same character in a lot of his movies and I'm afraid his role as drug-addicted comedian Jeff "Fats" Portnoy is no exception. Still, his on-screen antics added to the film, so no worried. Also, I wanted to add that Bill Hader is adorable and thank you very much for putting him in this film. Ditto for Jay Baruchel. Good move. My official rating: 8 cans of Booty Sweat out of 10.