If you haven’t seen it yet, rent or buy Tropic Thunder for your next movie night! The all-star cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Nick Nolte and Matthew McConnaughey (who is hilarious) plus Tom Cruise in a supporting role that just earned him a Golden Globe nomination (he really is something in the part). Each character in the movie is a famous actor, and the first five minutes of the film introduces each character by showing a movie with them in it. So it’s actors playing actors playing actors! The premise of the film is that the actors are making a war movie set in the jungles of Southeast Asia, and when their director drops them off in the middle of nowhere to lend realism to their performances, things go very wrong and they are left to fend for themselves.

Be warned, this movie takes political incorrectness to a whole new level. Ben Stiller’s character is famous for playing a “retard”, and there’s a scene where he says that word over and over, Robert Downey Jr. is a Method actor whose character in the film is black, so he has some kind of skin treatment that turns him, well, black. And Brandon T. Jackson plays actor “Alpa Chino”, a hip hop artist-turned-actor who product-places his signature drink “Booty Sweat” into every scene possible (and yes, ewwww).

There are a few slow moments but for the most part, the character portrayals are genius, even though the plot itself is totally far-fetched, and you’ll laugh. A lot. The movie is available on DVD and Blu-Ray, and a 2-Disc Director’s Cut that includes commentaries and a bunch of really good special features, really in-depth looks at how the movie was made. Including my favorite title for a bonus feature ever, a look at the pyrotechnic effects called “Blowing S#*t Up”. Buy or rent it, you’ll enjoy it!