The mildly complex movie-within-a-movie theme at the heart of Tropic Thunder might almost be called meta, if it weren't so ... trite. As it stands, the movie is little more than an exaggerated minstrel act that relies on its own self consciousness to make you laugh. And who appreciates this sort of thing? Don't answer that.

The movie follows five actors, Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Jeff Portney (Jack Black), Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.), Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), and Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) as they set out to make a blockbuster war film. Pampered actors and high expenses eventually threaten to shut down the production; until the frustrated director decides to shoot the film "guerrilla style," uprooting the actors and dropping them in the middle of a Southeast Asian jungle. This is where things get crazy: although the actors think they are still embracing fictional heroics, there are actually real Asian bad guys they need to kill!

Robert Downey, Jr., yes, in black-face, is the most blatant example of this film's heavy-handed comedy. Downey plays Kirk Lazarus an experienced actor who so embraces his role that he changes his own skin color. What follows is a succession of pathetic knee-slappers and half-cocked set-ups, and right when you think the film realizes the banality of the Lazarus character, it throws out an actual black guy to laugh at. Phew! And don't worry, if laughing at black people isn't your thing, there are hundreds of retard jokes in there, too! These come courtesy of a former character from Speedman's flop film Special Jack. Get it? Special?!

So we've got specials and blacks and, hey, wait, can't we beat up on the gays while we're at it? Well, guess what? We can! In the one of the film's final scenes Alpa Chino reveals to everyone that he is totally crushin' on Lance Bance, and they even get together in the end. Hurray! Everyone can agree that this is funny, right?