Actor, writer and director Ben Stiller mocks Hollywood and its movie conventions in the comedy, TROPIC THUNDER. Stiller is Tugg Speedman, a legendary action star whose latest efforts have been less than stellar. Speedman, along with well-acclaimed Kirk Lazaraus, played by Robert Downey, Jr., and comedian Jeff Portnoy, played by Jack Black, star in the latest war adaptation TROPIC THUNDER. After several half-hearted shoots of the film, TROPIC THUNDER director Damien Cockburn decides these prima donnas need some tougher terrain. Damien flops the three, and two other actors, in the middle of a hostile region, hoping to toughen up the crew and land some quality footage for the film. 
No one gets through TROPIC THUNDER unscathed which is good and bad, hilarious, but sometimes offensive and off-putting. Stiller throws everything he has at Hollywood, and several other assuming and unassuming groups, and finds much to laugh about. Some targets are easy, such as the big Hollywood action star, the gross-out comedian and the pretentious artist, while others seem less noteworthy such as studio executives and agents. Stiller and co-writers Justin Theroux and Etan Coen hit the bulls eye with opening trailer spoofs of Speedman, Lazaraus and Portnoy’s work, particularly THE FATTIES trailer which spoofs the most recent NUTTY PROFESSOR films, with twice the flatulence. Although TROPIC THUNDER is often times laugh-out-loud funny, it does stumble along the way. The film goes to the well too many times with the characters one-note jokes, and a satire targeting Hollywood actors who play the mentally disabled is insensitive at best. In spite of the missteps, TROPIC THUNDER provides plenty to laugh about.
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