Welcome to Reel People. It’s a place where, you guessed it, real people like yourselves spout off on new movie releases. It works best if you - yes, we mean you - jump into the forum link below and tell us what you think of the movie, too.

This week, we’re watching Tropic Thunder.

What I Liked: I laughed out loud so much during this movie.  I have to say that I went in expecting it to suck horribly based on the previews and once I threw out the hopes that the film would be good it actually ended up being awesome!  Ben Stiller truly has outdone himself in this flick!  This movie is the best worst movie ever made.  Before seeing this film I said Snakes on a Plane was, but Tropic Thunder has now taken the title!

What I Disliked: It’s one of those movies you go to when the theater first opens so you can slip in because you don’t want anyone to know you went to see it.  It’s also the movie you don’t want anyone to know you loved it!  I also didn’t particularly enjoy the constant spouting off of expletives!  I thought I had the mouth of a sailor, but I’m a saint compared to the mouths of the men in this film!

Would I Recommend?: I would recommend it only to people I know can appreciate the humor and silliness.  This is definitely not the movie to bring the kids to considering all of the foul language.  Don’t rush to watch this one in the theaters either.  Wait until it comes out on DVD and have drinks with it.  Something tells me had I been intoxicated the movie would have been even better!

Score: 5 out of 10

- Ashley Grant

What I Liked: “I’m the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude.”

This statement from Robert Downey, Jr.’s character in “Tropic Thunder” can be used to describe the movie itself.  “Tropic Thunder” is the sharply satirical film playing the gross-out, politically-incorrect comedy flick disguised as an action/war genre spoof.

I’m always a sucker for the “film within a film” idea, so I enjoyed seeing “Tropic Thunder” push this concept to the extreme.  (The movie is about the making of a Vietnam war film—that’s based on a book that’s based on the experiences of a Vietnam vet—and the lead characters are actors playing soldiers in this film...and so on.) “Tropic Thunder” skewers, satirizes and spoofs a variety of topics with a variety of success.  Some of the successes include the war movie genre; the profit-obsessed, cutthroat movie-making industry; the veracity of memoirists; product placement in films; obsessed, over-dedicated Method actors; racism and racial stereotypes; and the Oscars.

The casting was perfect, including a startling cameo appearance by a major movie star (whose name I won’t mention here to avoid any spoilers).  Robert Downey, Jr. dominated the film as the successful, blond Australian actor Kirk Lazarus, who undergoes a controversial skin-pigmentation procedure in order to portray a black soldier and then refuses to break character for any reason.  Several of the film’s funniest moments were when Lazarus was confronted by Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), a black actor who’s upset about the lead role going to a white actor portraying a black man.

What I Disliked: The gross-out, blood-and-guts gore and scatological jokes added little to the film’s humor or snarkiness to me.  (I’m hoping that these elements were included in the movie as some sort of spoof or social commentary that I just didn’t catch, because I was looking away from the screen and cringing.  I doubt it, though.) Jack Black’s character, used mostly for slapstick and sight gags, was the most underdeveloped and least interesting of the group.  Jack Black’s role was basically...Jack Black on heroin.

Would I Recommend?: I enjoyed “Tropic Thunder” much more than I thought I would.  I’m glad I gave it a try, because Robert Downey, Jr.’s performance alone makes this movie worth seeing.

Score: 8 out of 10

- Lisa Ciurro