She Likes to Watch

Yes, that really is Robert Downey Jr.

I’ll admit it.

I chuckled when Robert Downey Jr. launched into his speech about “Rain Man,” “Forrest Gump” and other tearjerkers about “simple folk” in “Tropic Thunder”. Okay, I actually laughed out loud.

“Tropic Thunder” has everything we’ve grown to expect from 21st century comedy — racial stereotypes, fart jokes and the unsavory sight of Jack Black in his undies.

Many of the jokes tow the line between foul and funny. But as offensive as the film can be at times, it’s not all shock-and-awe.

Directed and co-written by Ben Stiller, “Tropic Thunder” sends a gleeful salute to “Platoon,” “The Deer Hunter” and “Apocalypse Now.” It also boasts pitch-perfect parodies of Hollywood players and some well-placed cameos.

Director Damien Cockburn (Britain’s Steve Coogan) has set out to make the ultimate Vietnam War movie, based on a book by a grizzled vet (Nick Nolte).

He’s got a wild Southeast Asia setting, a huge budget and monumental amounts of explosives.

Unfortunately for Cockburn, his cast consists of an action star turned flop (Stiller, surprisingly ripped), a comic battling drug addiction (Black), a energy drink-peddling rapper (Brandon T. Jackson) and a crazed Aussie so dedicated to his craft that he’s undergone “pigment surgery” for his African American role (Robert Downey Jr.).

When the self-important celebrities find themselves cut loose in the jungle, however, it’s time for the actors to start acting like men.

Starting with a slew of fake trailers, “Tropic Thunder” sets out at a roaring pace and only picks up speed with appearances by Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey. Unfortunately, the movie bogs down just as our reluctant heroes finally step into action.

Although many of the bits get old, there’s plenty of humor here — including some rather nasty one-liners. (The only clean one I remember involves Mother Nature “wetting her pantsuit.”)

Downey Jr. is one of the factors that makes “Tropic Thunder” so unexpectedly enjoyable.

He inhabits two roles — a Russell Crowe look-alike chasing his next Oscar, and a salty black sergeant who craves crawfish and quotes “The Jeffersons” theme song. It’s a sharp satire that would not be out of place in a Spike Lee movie.

Like Downey Jr.’s performance, “Tropic Thunder” is at times brilliant and downright cruel.

On one hand, it’s Hollywood excess at its best, a mega-budget blockbuster with the best cast money can buy, matched by an audacious script and an off-kilter premise.

On the other, it’s a mean, manic product of the Perez Hilton era.

Here’s my advice:

See “Tropic Thunder” for the foibles of the rich and famous — not all the stereotypically fat, black, Asian and mentally challenged people that the movie so ludicrously mocks.

***

Photo courtesy of MovieWeb.com.

First, a prologue:

“On March 3, 1969 the United States Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the lost art of aerial combat and to insure that the handful of men who graduated were the best fighter pilots in the world. They succeeded. Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Weapons School. The flyers call it: TOP GUN.”

Cue Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone.” It’s time for “Top Gun.”

Inspired by Ehud Yonay’s 1983 article on elite fighter pilots in California, “Top Gun” follows the adventures of Maverick (Tom Cruise), an up-and-coming pilot whose ego often gets in the way of his common sense.

With wingman Goose (Anthony Edwards) by his side and rival Iceman (Val Kilmer) watching his every move, Maverick aims to proves he’s the hottest Navy flyer in the air.

Oh yeah, and there’s a cute civilian instructor (Kelly McGillis) to woo.

Some moviegoers may not care for “Top Gun’s” politics, or its less-than-subtle undertones of homoeroticism. (Quentin Tarantino discusses the subject brilliantly in “Sleep With Me.”)

But let’s face it, people.

This is a classic flick — a high-flying action movie with a killer soundtrack, made when Tom Cruise was still sane and Kelly McGillis was the hottest chick in a flight jacket.

There’s also a Central Coast connection: McGillis got her start at the Great American Melodrama in Oceano.

To paraphrase a quote from the film: “Top Gun,” you can be my wingman any time.

“Top Gun” screens tonight at the Fremont theater, 1025 Monterey St. in San Luis Obispo.

The movie starts at 7:30 p.m., following a half-hour of trivia and prizes. Tickets are $7.50.

– Sarah L.

(”Top Gun” DVD cover courtesy of Movieweb.com)