Tropic Thunder Declares Comedy War

The action comedy Tropic Thunder, a send-up of Vietnam War movies, crosses some lines—intentionally. In fact, Peter Hartlaub writes in the San Francisco Chronicle, "if you're not offended by at least one aspect of this film, then you're probably not getting out enough." But it has a secret weapon, he writes: It's "laugh-until-your-stomach-hurts hilarious."

Director and star Ben Stiller plays off Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr, who turn in "daringly demented" performances, William Arnold writes in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The excesses may turn some people off, Kenneth Turan writes in the LA Times, but there is "genuine humor and palpable satiric intent underneath the waves of unnerving bad taste and political incorrectness." 
(More Ben Stiller stories.)