Stiller may hit the target, but he still aimed low

Rating: 5/10 (15 February 2015)

(48%) Ben Stiller's part poke at the movie industry, part gross-out comedy, part Vietnam war movie spoof is one of mere amusement rather than real or substantial laughs. A big draw here is the star-studded cast, but it's that element that I feel hampers this overall as there really isn't enough screen time for everyone to make that much of an overall impact. Jack Black has it easy playing a drug addicted Hollywood jerk, which basically means he spends most of the film freaking out. Downey Jr's character is just a tool to rip into method acting. While Stiller mostly attacks Oscar bait movies. Everything this has is just made up of easy targets and cheap laughs. Tom Cruse has never really been the funny-man, it's just something he doesn't do all that well, and here he's covered in so much latex and fake body hair that the role could have easily been played by almost anyone. And as there's so little faith in his character to raise a genuine laugh resulting in the makers getting him to dance not once but twice. The film is well shot, and the jungle locations look great, but this needed to hit more than just easy targets.