DVD Review: Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder
Directed by: Ben Still
Written by: Justin Theroux, Ben Stiller, and Etan Cohen
Starring: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr, Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Nick Nolte, and Tom Cruise.

I'm going to make this a quick review only because there isn't much to say other than this is probably the funniest movie of the year and everyone should buy it.

Tropic Thunder is the hilarious movie directed by Ben Stiller about a group of actors dropped into the jungle to film a movie about Vietnam only to find out that the events happening around them aren't a movie at all.

The cast is beyond brilliant. Robert Downey Jr. is simply hysterical. Every word out of his mouth is laugh worthy. He is certainly the stand out here playing an Australian actor who has treated his skin so that he can play a black character. With heavyweights like Stiller, Black, and Downey Jr. it must have been nerve wracking for relative newcomers Brandon T. Jackson and Jay Baruchel but they handled their own quite well. They both go toe to toe with the big boys and handle themselves well, providing a lot of laughs of their own.

I hesitate to talk about Tom Cruise here. You'll just have to see him in action for yourself.

The unrated director's cut just adds more laughs to the mix with a few scenes that just improve a near perfect movie. The movie is extremely smart with a first class script and great directed from Stiller.

The DVD is packed with extra features. Extended takes, alternate scenes, deleted scenes, extended scenes, numerous featurettes, commentary, the works.

I do have a couple complaints though. First no gag reel. The outtakes from this shoot must have been the stuff gag reel dreams are made of but we weren't treated to one for some reason. Second, no Simple Jack trailer. It seems like the studio just gave in to the protests and quietly just dropped the clip. The other faux trailers still appear at the beginning of the film but no Simple Jack. Those two minor quips aren't enough to keep me from telling you to buy this DVD though.

So do that. Buy it. You'll laugh till you hurt and then laugh some more.

Tropic Thunder is in stores now.