It’s quite sad that humor has to be so obvious nowadays. Comedies seem to have lost the ability to use smooth irony, smart jokes and other means to make people laugh. Everything turns into something obvious so that anyone can understand the humor. The problem with this kind of humor is that it’s meant to pick on others, even if the intention is just to create laughs.

This is the case of “Tropic Thunder” which is indeed funny because it manages to make fun of actors who are so self absorbed and think they are the most important beings on Earth. On the other hand, the movie uses the word “retarded” so many times that it was bound to create so much controversy from some groups who took it personally. It seems Ben Stiller, who starred in the movie, co-wrote and directed it, can’t have it all. “Tropic Thunder” may be funny but not everyone enjoys this kind of humor.

The President of the American Association of People with Disabilities Andrew J. Imparato said that the movie was “tasteless” and “offensive start to finish,” reported Variety. Using slogans like “Call me by my name, not by my label,” the protesters who gathered across the street from the movie’s Los Angeles premiere argued that “Tropic Thunder,” starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey, was very offensive.

“Tropic Thunder” is a comedy situated on the edge, as is makes fun of everything: Vietnam veterans, drug addicts who are recovering, Russell Crowe, those who are overweight and the list can go on. But, if you get over those aspects and don’t take it personally, the movie is really funny. The action revolves around a group of self absorbed, pampered actors who are taken into the jungle to lose their VIP behavior. Even if the jungle is real and they get involved in all sorts of dangerous situations, they keep it cool, thinking it’s all a movie.

Ben Stiller plays action star Tugg Speedman, Robert Downey Jr. is Kirk Lazarus and Jack Black is Jeff Portnoy star of the movie “The Fatties: Fart II,” making fun of the Klumps with Eddie Murphy. All these actors are trying to make “Tropic Thunder,” a Vietnam War movie based on a book writer by Sgt. Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte), but they are to vane and their egos are too big to let them work.

While Downey Jr. plays a white actor playing a black soldier, Ben Stiller’s character Tugg Speedman makes fun of those actors who play intellectually challenged characters, thinking it is a good opportunity to win an Oscar. So, if you stop and think about it, the movie doesn’t make fun of the mentally disabled but of the actors. Even Ben Stiller said that in the context of the movie, all the jokes make sense.

“So in the context of the film I think it's really clear, they were making fun of the actors and actors who try to use serious subjects to win awards. It's about actors and self-importance. I think the context of the movie it's pretty clear,” said Ben Stiller on “Good Morning America.”

Continuing with the mockery, Tom Cruise makes his way by playing megalomaniac studio head Les Grossman, making up for some of his pretentious interviews and other roles he had.

So, basically, viewers could be offended by the movie but, if they don’t take it personally, they could see the fact that “Tropic Thunder” mocks a certain category of actors (which includes almost all the actors), reminding them to not take themselves too serious.

Tropic Thunder

Director: Ben Stiller

Writers: Ben Stiller, Justin Theroux

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Nick Nolte.