Ben Stiller is probably much better known to cinema audiences as a comic actor but he also does a bit of directing and this week, in the newly released 'Tropic Thunder', he does both.
'Tropic Thunder' is one of those films that's hard to describe, for not only is it an all-action blockbuster and a parody of a number of other films - and of Hollywood actors - but it is also a smartly scripted comedy with a star-studded cast.
'Tropic Thunder' is essentially a film about the making of another film - a big-budget war film also called 'Tropic Thunder' - which stars Stiller's character Tugg Speedman in the lead role.
Steve Coogan plays the director of this 'film within a film' who is at the end of his tether as he has to deal with a cast full of 'prima donna' actors.
Things are not going well on the set - on location in South-East Asia - and the film shoot is in danger of being cancelled unless Coogan can get Speedman, and the rest of his pampered stars, to stop whining and get on with their jobs.
In a last ditch effort to save the production Coogan takes his leading actors - dressed in their full G.I. outfits - deep into the jungle hoping to add a touch of reality to their acting well away from the confines (and the comfort) of the studio set.
But things take a turn for the worse when the group of actors run across a group of 'real' heavily-armed drug lords. And, worse still, the actors think they're still shooting scenes from the movie believing that instead of actually getting shot at the gunfire is all the work of their special effects guy.
So instead of running for cover, or fearing for their lives the overpaid actors bitch and moan about being stuck in the jungle and argue over what to do next, and who should be their 'leader'.
Stiller's character Speedman is a Hollywood star whose appeal is waning. After starring in a series of increasingly pointless action movies, and a 'Forest Gump' parody called 'Simple Jack', Speedman is one more bad movie away from oblivion.
Speedman needs this one to succeed and, despite the apparent apathy of his fellow actors, he continues trying to make the movie even though no-one is actually filming them.
Starring alongside Speedman in 'Tropic Thunder' is Kirk Lazarus (played by Robert Downey Jr). An Oscar winning actor Lazarus is an Australian method actor who has gone to the lengths of undergoing a 'pigmentation procedure' to 'authentically' play an African-American soldier. He also refuses to drop his 'African-American' accent even when they are talking to each other 'off-camera'.
Also stuck in the jungle is Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), a docile Hollywood 'comedian' who has starred in a number of films where the humour is mainly derived from farting.
Much of the in this movie is based on the actors' seemingly total inability to realise the situation they find themselves in.
When one of the actors tells Jeff 'We mightn't all make it back', his reply is, 'What do you mean? Not on the same flight?'.
The entire cast here are on top form with Downey Jnr putting in one of the best comic performances of his career as Lazarus while Stiller is excellent as the hapless - and at times clueless - Speedman.
I am not usually of fan of Jack Black but here he's excellent as Portnoy - a lazy actor with a drug problem who, like the rest of the crew, is full of his own self-importance and utter devoid of any resemblance of cop-on.
It would be worth trying to count how many other films get parodied - or mentioned here. While the opening, and closing scene, are so obviously 'Platoon' there are echoes of a great many other films mimicked both by the action and mentioned by the actors.
'Tropic Thunder' is easily one of the funniest films of the year and contains some of the funniest perfomances I've ever seen from Messers Black, Downey Jr and Stiller.
The film also great performances from Tom Cruise (as the foul-mouth studio director) and Matthew McConaghey, on unusually entertaining form as Speedman's agent.
'Tropic Thunder' has plenty of action, some violence and a bit of blood and guts but where the film succeeds is in its primary function - as a comedy.
Stiller proves here to be quite a dab hand at directed and keeps this film moving along at a great pace. 'Tropic Thunder' may be a bit silly at times but it's always entertaining and will leave you with a big smile on your face.
