Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder” is the story of five actors (played by Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Brandon T. Jackson, and Jay Baruchel) who are in a troubled production of an expensive new war movie.  The director (Steve Coogan) decides to change his approach – he will drop the actors in the middle of the jungle, put them through what their characters go through, and film their natural reactions.  Soon control is lost and the actors are put in very real danger.  The twist is that they still think that it’s all part of the movie.

        The Actors-Forced-To-Do-What-They-Pretend-To-Do plot has been done before.  Stiller throws in a few twists to make the characters unique.  Jeff Portnoy (Black) is a drug addict going through withdraw.  Tugg Speedman (Stiller) ruined his career by making a horrible movie that is oddly beloved by the villagers who capture him.  Kirk Lazarus (Downey) is a white, Australian actor cast as a black character.  He annoys everyone by perpetuating stereotypes at every opportunity. 

        As funny as the character-driven scenes are, it is during the action scenes where “Tropic Thunder” really shines.  The joke during these scenes is that action movie clichés (which the actors use nonstop) look and sound ridiculous in real-world situations.  This is especially true with the one-liners they yell out before firing their guns.  Scenes where they think they are close to death and try to get out profound last words are gutbusting as well. 

The icing on the cake of “Tropic Thunder” is a number of surprise cameos.  For example, there is a character named Les Grossman.  Grossman is a bald, pudgy studio executive.  He likes to berate people with obscene rants.  He is also fond of using dance moves that he apparently picked up from rap videos.  Grossman is the single funniest thing about the movie.  I won’t tell you who plays him, except to say that it is someone Stiller is fond of imitating. 

“Tropic Thunder” is precisely what an adult summer comedy should be:  funny enough for any time of year, yet able to hold its own as eye candy.