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A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film. But after ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.

Tropic Thunder may go down as Stiller’s first brush with genius, as well as new, rippling biceps. Countering them (and his pecs and all around movie star looks) is a grizzled, ’60s lingo-dropping African-American Sgt. Osiris, played by Australian thespian Kirk Lazarus, played by Robert Downey Jr. Osiris/Lazarus/Downey uses a play to Stiller’s vanity (how do you look so good? Diet, mostly…) to steal a map away from him at a critical point in the film. What’s really happening is Downey stealing every scene he’s in and, what ultimately makes Tropic Thunder so terrific, ensuring that it will never be thought of as “that Ben Stiller movie.” When it first comes out it will be the “Robert Downey plays a black guy movie” and then, once it settles on cable and DVD, will simply be known as Tropic Thunder, comedy masterpiece. They’ll be quoting from this one for years.

The premise is idiotic and simple – a Hollywood production of a Vietnam war tale is going horribly overbudget and the frazzled Brit theatre director on his first picture (played perfectly by Steve Coogan) takes the advice of the thousand-yard-staring vet (Nick Nolte) on whose book the film based. Put them in the sh*t.

A few misunderstandings, dormant land mines and run-ins with Burmese opium concerns later and you have the best actors-in-distress movie since Three Amigos. But where the Amigos had Randy Newman as a singing bush, Tropic Thunder has Robert Downey Jr. His Kirk Lazarus, the dude playing the dude disguised as the other dude, is a landmark in cinema. I’m not joking. Arriving at a time when racial identity is taking on new dimensions in American life, Downey’s blackface is a carnival of metatextuality, impervious to cries of racism. Partially because “Osiris” is so cool! He’s one of the hippest black characters since Shaft! (I should be careful here – I’m really speaking about Lazarus-as-Osiris, the character we see during the bulk of the film, as Downey’s Lazarus refuses to break character. The “Osiris” we see in clips of Tropic Thunder, the movie they are making in Tropic Thunder is just boilerplate.

All praise goes to Downey, of course, and the chutzpah to let him play this role, but the other performances are top notch. The bald, fat Tom Cruise you’ve heard about is quite good – one can’t help thinking about Cruise during the film’s set-up of Stiller’s Speedman, an A-lister that suddenly everyone despises.  Jack Black reels in his usual shtick a bit as the drug addicted a-hole, and second tier names Brandon T. Jackson and Jay Baruchel do more than hold their own. The big breakout, though, is young Brandon Soo Hoo – the best moppetty Asian kid in a Hollywood movie since Short Round.

Brandon Soo Hoo, as the head of the evil Opium ring who also loves “retarded movies,” made me choke on my complimentary popcorn. He manages to be adorable and ,somehow, also frightening. . . in a 13 year old broken English kinda way.

This is a refreshing departure from some of the more inane comedic roles Stiller has salvaged. Robert Downey, Jr. should be nominated for an academy award for his performance. And, of course, Jack Black had a typical scene in his underwear. While Stiller is a very talented actor and is very capable in a dramatic role as demonstrated in his earlier movie, Permanent Midnight, he seems to find greater pleasure flexing his pecs in a comedy. His comedic roles are getting a bit too stereotypical and some of his mannerisms which carry over from one role to the next, make them all sometimes appear the same. Nonetheless he is very talented and this movie may truly be his comedic pinnacle.

Rating: 4.7 out of 5 Jalapenos