The summer's best comedy

Don’t be fooled: The movie starts before the credits roll. Don’t understand me? That’s because you haven’t seen “Tropic Thunder” yet. And if so, shame on you! This movie is the best comedy of the year so far, putting “Zohan,” “Step Brothers” and “Pineapple Express” in their place.

“Tropic Thunder” is Ben Stiller’s second mainstream project as writer-director-actor, after 2001’s “Zoolander,” and it lives up to its predecessor to a degree that few people would have predicted. It is hilarious, with the right blend of slapstick gags, witty dialogue, zany situations and tongue-in-cheek barbs at the world of Hollywood.

The film centers around three actors: Stiller, who plays an action-movie type who finally gets a serious role after the sixth sequel in his film franchise bombs; Jack Black, the fat comedian who only does fart jokes; and Downey Jr., the hot-tempered Australian method actor with five Oscars under his belt who never drops character. They are starring in a war movie based on the memoirs of a Vietnam veteran named Four-Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), with Stiller as Four-Leaf and Downey Jr. as the platoon’s African-American sergeant.

That’s right. Downey Jr.'s character undergoes a cosmetic procedure to darken his skin and stays in character throughout the film as a jive-talking stereotype – a man who is, referred to in the movie as “the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!” The movie is hemorrhaging money, and the jerk-off film producer (Tom Cruise) is ready to pull the plug. So the director sends the actors out into the actual jungle, unaware that the danger they are facing is real, and not movie magic.

The synopsis is enough to make you laugh all over again, and I’ll probably go see this movie a second time, which is high praise from a poor college student. All the actors are absolutely brilliant, with the exception of Jack Black, who just didn’t have enough screen time. The cameos are well done, including Matthew McConaughey as Stiller’s agent, SNL alumnus Bill Hader as the assistant director, and “Hamlet 2” actor Steve Coogan as the inept British director.

“Tropic Thunder” is comedy gold, if not quite the platinum of “Zoolander.” It is well-crafted and funny, while delivering good elements of action as well. It is a standout film in a currently crowded genre and will most likely be watched by groups of drunken college students for years to come.