I’m going to say something I haven’t said years: This has been a good year for summer movies. With action films like The Dark knight, Iron Man, Narnia, and comedies like WALL-E, Kung Fu Panda, and Zohan, Hollywood has shown us that can match high tech special effects with top notch writing once again. So it only figures the big budget Hollywood satire ‘Tropic Thunder’ would mosey on in to combine the energy fueled action film with the tongue and cheek comedic romp that’ll have many viewers rolling down the aisles. It feels nice to look forward to summer movies again.

The film starts off, oddly enough, with a preview, several previews actually, all of them staring one of the stars of this film. One of them is action star Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), whose more into his ego then he is acting, another is Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), who is a recover drug addict, and the other is Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downy Jr.), who takes method acting to a brand new low. All three actors are self centered and consider themselves God’s gift to cinema, but none of them can seem to do a scene together without stealing attention away from the camera. This is a major problem when all three star in the ‘Apocalypse Now’ style war epic ‘Tropic Thunder,’ which is already millions over budget and months behind schedule (even though they’ve only been filming for five days).

So how can these three prima donas film a Viet Nam movie without killing each other? Send them to Viet Nam of course, at least that’s the advice given to the director by the author of the original book the film is based on. So the three stars and the director are plunged into the middle of the Viet Nam jungle with minimum amount of communication to the outside world. Joining them are costars Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) as a young hopeful actor, and rapper Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), who both try their best to lend some form of sanity to this often mindless battle of the egos. The only trouble is that the director dies, and the three actors think that they’re still in the movie. So the five of them set out on an action packed crusade fighting renegade Vietnamese drug lords who they think are just actors. The drug lords are almost frightened by the actors because they confuse their overblown, choreographed, action cues as fearless, blood lusting, rampages. As the reality of the situation very slowly sinks in, the stars realize they have to stop relying on their acting chops and start focusing on their almost nonexistent survival skills.

All three of these actors (Black, Stiller, and Downy) are very good at mocking the sheltered and often shallow lifestyles that Hollywood has to offer. Downy especially shines as the Australian method actor who is so into his character as a black Viet Nam soldier that he actually dyes his skin black and dubs an incredibly offensive “street wise” accent even after the cameras have turned off (“I stay in character until the DVD commentary”). There are also some surprise guest stars like Matthew McConaughey as Stiller’s yuppie agent, Nick Nolte as the war crazed author of the original book, and Tom Cruise in the often funny role as a vulgar, power hungry CEO. But it’s not just the performances that make this movie work, it’s the over-the-top satirical glance at Hollywood’s empty yet glamorized take on the real world. When the stars are in the jungle, they fight like they’re in a war movie as opposed to a real war. While satirizing too many films to count, it’s not really a satire of any one film in particular (even ‘Apocalypse Now’). Even the characters are satires of several celebrities but no one in general. By doing this, the film creates its own world and its own characters that are both funny and entertaining to watch.

Does every joke work? No. There’s way too much of Tom Cruise dancing to rap music as the angry CEO (which is not nearly as funny as it sounds), and there’s way too little of Jack Black who, while funny, isn’t used to his full potential. Half the time I forgot he was in the movie, which should never happen with the person who is listed second in the end credits. But the movie still offers us many jokes that do work, combining dark comedy, social satire, horrific gore, and big budget action scenes that makes it hard not to chuckle quite often. The director and star Ben Stiller has had some box office misses with his past experience in the director’s chair (directing ‘The Cable Guy’ and ‘Zoolander’). I personally enjoyed both films, but neither one seemed to make studio moguls happy. But I think this one will really get people this time, with it’s strange quirks, it’s intense silliness, and politically incorrect humor.

So who will like it? Fans of Ben Stiller will certainly enjoy it, he plays his usual character of the sad loser who thinks he’s actually a lot cooler than he really is. It will also delight people who enjoy what Hollywood produces, but know the shallow and empty methods it uses to achieve it.

Who won’t like it? People just looking for a simple, light-hearted, non-offensive comedy might be thrown off by the gory violence or the sometimes racially insensitive humor. Anyone also not a fan of Ben Stiller’s ‘Cool guy who’s really a looser’ persona might wanna stay clear of this film too (he does a lot of that here).

My thoughts? This film is clever, and is fortunate enough to have a budget behind it that uses its money for big laughs instead of just tiring explosions. Ben Stiller has something of an Andy Kauffman quality in that he loves to make his satires look as real as possible, sometimes even fooling the viewer. This works well when combining this humor with the strange and pretentious world Hollywood has created. Though I have to admit I think the film only has one run in it for me, it was a run I’m glad I went through and I enjoyed laughing at. It was funny, clever, and at times even exciting. It’s nice to see a film that actually uses its big budget special effects to mock the films that focus too much on them.

Douglas Darien is a featured writer for Xomba.com. Read the rest of his work here or visit his website www.thatguywiththeglasses.com.