"Tropic Thunder" blends fun, action

The forecast is good for “Tropic Thunder” to storm the box office. It’s a fairly droll, self-deprecating skewering of spoiled movie stars that happens to feature a whole passel of ’em. All in one flick, you get notorious ego trippers and/or bad boys Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Nick Nolte and Ben Stiller alongside Matthew McConaughey and Tom Cruise in cheeky secondary supporting roles.

This surreal roster alone ought to sell tickets, even if the insider setting may limit its mass appeal and the material is more studied/clever than laugh-out-loud funny.