This very funny film is the perfect summer flick. You can laugh yourself silly, discuss it with your friends at the water cooler, and wait eagerly for the DVD release, which will probably coincide with the Christmas holidays. It has some side-splitting sight and word gags, but it’s anything but mindless; instead, it’s often viciously satirical, even poignant.

The premise: A cast of prominent Hollywood stars is making a big-budget movie about the Vietnam War. There’s Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), an action film star and box-office draw whose one chance to act, in Simple Jack, a movie about a mentally challenged man (think Forrest Gump), was a big flop. Now he’s buffed and ready for an action comeback.

Also starring in Tropic Thunder -- the name of this movie and the movie within the movie -- is Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), who has achieved success in a series of "fatty" movies powered by fart humor. In fact, a trailer for Portnoy’s latest vehicle precedes the beginning of Tropic Thunder. (When I saw the film, the three Tropic Thunder trailers followed six legit ones, and because the former are done with such deadpan style, it was a few minutes before I caught on.) In his own movies, Portnoy plays all the roles, every one fat and farting, skewering Eddie Murphy’s adventures in fat suits. Portnoy is also a heroin addict who hides his habit from the other actors by calling his junk "candy."

Then there’s Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), an Australian actor who has won five Academy Awards and is known for his obsessive preparation for his roles. There’s a trailer for one his films, too, in which he plays a medieval monk hot to get inside Tobey Macguire’s robes. For Tropic Thunder, Lazarus is cast as an African-American, and has pigment-implementation surgery to better look the part. Even between scenes, he maintains his black accent and character, swearing that he won’t give it up until after he’s taped the DVD commentary.

These are rounded out by Brandon T. Jackson, who plays rapper Alpa Chino (say it aloud), a genuine African-American who, by making Tropic Thunder, is hoping to promote his line of products -- primarily Booty Sweat, a power drink. There’s also Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), a newbie who is totally unlike the other spoiled, narcissistic actors.

After the actors and their personalities are established, the movie is jump-started when the British director, Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan), is insulted by the producer, Les Grossman (an almost unrecognizably fat and balding Tom Cruise), and decides to turn his actors loose in the jungle for some group improvisation. There, Damien is accidentally blown up by a land mine. At first the actors think the explosion has been faked, but eventually, in the director’s absence, Speedman takes over as leader of the improv. Meanwhile, in real life, a diminutive drug lord and his savage crew are scoping them out. Eventually they capture Speedman, who must then be rescued by his four compatriots.

Tropic Thunder lambastes almost everything about Hollywood, especially acting methods. Throughout the movie, Speedman and Lazarus discuss acting in conversations packed with double and triple entendres. They bond, we laugh. The entire cast is right on the mark. In addition to the actors already mentioned are Matthew McConaughey as Speedman’s agent, The Pecker; Nick Nolte as John "Four Leaf" Tayback, author of the book on which the jungle movie is based; and Danny McBride as Cody, an explosion-happy special-effects man.

But best of the pack is Robert Downey Jr., who deserves a Best Supporting Actor award from somewhere for his convincing work. The turn by Cruise in the Hollywood scenes is amazing and unexpected, but it’s Downey whom one most vividly remembers when leaving the theater.

John Toll’s cinematography, Daniel B. Clancy’s sets, Theodore Shapiro’s music, and everything else -- all are 100% spectacular. And, oh yes, the director. He’s Ben Stiller, who not only looks good in front of the camera, but knows what to do behind it. Stiller keeps Tropic Thunder right on the edge of being "too much" without ever going over the precipice.

If you’re looking for prime summer entertainment, you can’t miss with this movie. Leave the kids home, get a big bucket of popcorn, and have a great time. I can’t wait for the DVD -- I’m sure I missed at least a hundred in-jokes that went by too fast for me to catch because I was still laughing at the last one.

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