Tropic Thunder

In the pursuit of realism on a big budget war movie, a group of actors, including the action star desperate for an Oscar, Tugg Speedman (Stiller), the drugged-up comedian, Jeff Portnoy (Black), and the Australian method actor, Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr), are left in the jungle to fend for themselves. Now facing death at the hands of a long drug gang they must use their very unique skills to survive and make it back home.

Ben Stiller returns to the director’s chair after a 7 year absence, with Tropic Thunder, a hilarious satire of the inner workings of Hollywood. It is rife with superb performances, in particular Downey Jr, who follows his much deserved come-back in Iron Man with this Oscar nominated performance, and a brilliant cameo from the mega star Tom Cruise. Along with laugh-out loud moments and brilliant one-liners that you’ll be quoting long afterwards, the film is also full of spectacular action set pieces and is very much in the vein of such comedies as Zoolander and Anchorman.

Russell Bailey