Movie review: 'Tropic Thunder' funny, offensive and unforgettable

The big question that rose in my mind after seeing "Tropic Thunder" was not "Did I like it?" (HECK YES) but rather, "How in the heck am I going to write a review of this movie?"

This film isn't like any other film I have seen in recent memory. It's a war movie about actors making a war movie about a battle that may or may not have actually happened. As Robert Downey Jr.'s character says, "I'm a dude, playin' a dude that's disguised as another dude." It gets confusing, so I will try my best to make it all clear.

The simple version of the plot synopsis is: Three pampered Hollywood superstars are in the jungles of Vietnam making a war movie, when a real war breaks out, and they think that it's all part of the script.

It's a lot more complicated than that.

The three actors are from different backgrounds: Tugg Speedman (The Action Guy, played well by Ben Stiller), Jeff Portnoy (The Comedian, played by the hilarious Jack Black) and Kirk Lazarus (The Method Actor, an unrecognizable Robert Downey Jr.) are all in Vietnam, with their entourages in tow, filming a megabudget war film.

During one pivotal scene, Stiller's character is trying his best to cry on cue, but it just isn't happening, he calls cut, which drives the director crazy, mistakingly giving the cue to the special effects guys to set off the $4 million explosion as the jets fly by. The cameras aren't even rolling, which causes the studio head (a barely recognizable Tom Cruise) to scream a continual stream of curse words at the director, telling him the picture is shut down.

One man, the "soldier" who wrote the "true story" book the film is based on (played to-the-hilt by Nick Nolte) pipes up that maybe they should take the actors and dump them in the middle of the jungle and hide cameras all around to shoot it guerrilla style, to capture the real fear on the actors faces. In order to fix the nearly dead film, that is exactly what they decide to do. Problem is, the jungle is home to drug runners, who kidnap one of the main characters, kill another and try and kill the rest of the actors. This is the point of the film when the movie really gets funny — and offensive. If you get offended easily, just stay home. Don't try and ruin it for the rest of us.

It seems as if Ben Stiller, who also directed the film, has been trying to make a film like this one for years. "The Cable Guy," with Jim Carrey was underappreciated at its time, and "Zoolander" was a satirical look at the modeling industry that flopped but was hilarious, and "Tropic Thunder" slaps Hollywood in the face. The film is way ahead of its time.

And I can say one thing: I will never look at Tom Cruise the same way ever again. His performance in "Tropic Thunder" is worth the price of admission alone.