Ah, remember the days when political correctness wasn't an in word, and you could say almost anything without fear of being slapped down by some do-gooder? Well, we get a chance to relive those days with a film that could easily offend almost everyone. And what great fun it is too.
A group of ego-driven actors are messing up a big budget war flick, so the director (Steve Coogan) is driven to take his five leads into the jungle and put them into an almost real situation, not realising that a group of opium makers are in there, and they believe the actors to be Drug Law Enforcers, making the mission even more real.
Bill Stiller (who co-wrote and directed this) has come up with his best film since Zoolander, and outrageous pop at Hollywood and actors as well as a poke to the side of Rambo and a host of other Vietnam war flicks. And while his part is fine, Jack Black as a comic actor with a drug problem, seems wildly underwritten, and he isn't given the opportunity to shine. On the other hand, Robert Downey Jr is the saving grace. Playing an Australian multi-Oscar winner who immerses himself so much in his roles, that he has surgery to make him a black man, is hilarious. Believing himself to be black, he is ridiculed by the real black actor in the film.
Add into the pot a funny cameo from Tom Cruise, and you have one of the funniest comedies this year. And unless you really understand Hollywood, you may miss the joke, but it's worth seeing just for Downey Jr alone, who at last has his career back on track. Good for you, Robert.
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