It appears that Ben Stiller, who co-wrote and directed the comedy “Tropic Thunder” didn’t get his inspiration from nowhere. His “muses” were actually Hollywood actors, agents and filmmakers. Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), award winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) didn’t just come out of the blue.

Cruise’s character for instance was based on Stiller's producing partner, Stuart Cornfeld, with whom he worked for 10 years. The man is famous for his shouting.

Stiller’s character on the other hand is trying to get over the period of his career during which he played an intellectually disabled farmhand. But people who defend or represent the ones with disabilities aren’t very amused by this idea.

Robert Downey Jr. plays a tough Australian actor who undergoes a medical procedure to turn his skin dark so that he can be more credible. His character told Stiller that "Everybody knows you never do a full retard…You went full retard, man. Never go full retard!"

The executives of Dreamworks, the company that produced "Tropic Thunder," note that having Stiller go "full retard" is funny because of the sheer idea of being a "retard." That’s just about it.

The film company also had been promoting a Web site, www.simplejackmovie.com, but it was shut down a week ago.

“Tropic Thunder” covers about everything that’s wrong in today’s Hollywood: the hesitations of actors, their drug abuse, and quite obvious selfishness. And all of the actors starring in the movie give beautiful performances. There’s really nothing to get so intrigued about.