Best Satire since "Network"...

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 2008)

Sometimes a movie hits Satire Gold, because it points out the absolute absurdity of an industry in a way that everyone realizes how ludicrous it is except the people in the scene.
The premise is that a group of actors is doing a Vietnam film (based on the only book about a true event that got a movie deal) but are totally hung up on their own egos to realize they are in deep trouble.
I'm not a fan of Jack Black (who plays a drug-addicted overweight comedy star) or Ben Stiller (who I have never considered funny). I've only recently warmed up to Robert Downey Jr (who artificially makes himself look black for this role, much to the chagrin of his black co-star.) yet in this film, they work.
The guy who steals the comedy is Tom Cruise, almost unrecognizable with a bald head and paunchy middle. He plays an over-the-top producer who terrorizes everyone working for him. (Some have compared him to the reprehensible Weinstein brothers, but I thought Cruise might have had Sumner Redstone in mind.)
Obviously, more than a few people who are too influenced by political correctness winced at some of the jokes, but that's really their problem. The jokes ARE funny, even if society had programmed us to feel guilty about laughing at them. So have a good laugh in the privacy of your living room.