Whoops. Should have been in here.
The movie itself is a feast for film fans, for some reasons I will explain in spoilery fashion. I urge you to see the film if you have any interest before continuing on into my travelogue of funny gems from this film.
SPOILERS
There are precious few cameos in the film. You may have heard about the famous one...but it's not a cameo. It's a real role. There is another major actor who has a role and hasn't been featured in ANY of the ads. Beyond that, there are some great cameos, especially Tobey Maguire. I'd love to see Marvel's reaction when they see their two biggest stars holding each other's rosaries lovingly.
The film opens brilliantly, showcasing each of the four stars in their realm, down to the pattern-perfect studio releasing each of the films, plus a commercial which made me do a double take based on the language in it
When then get right into the film, and it's a doozy. What I marvelled at was how each of the characters was funny in a different way, yet they all seemed to mesh into the same film. You had your nerdy humor (Jay Baruchel), your hubris humor (Ben Stiller), your gross-out/over-the-top humor (Jack Black), and your "PC and relations" humor (RDJ and Brandon Jackson). Make no mistake, the character of Alpa Chino exists for a joke or two of his own (and decent ones), but mostly to keep RDJ's character from becoming bigger than the humor. The interplay between Jackson and RDJ is very good though.
Beyond that is a solid cast of characters, and events each more nutty than the one before.
Tom Cruise does a meta-thing here which is half-baked and half-brilliant. When he's on, he is ON, and provided some of the biggest laughs of the film.
Danny McBride is having a hell of a summer. Few saw The Foot-Fist Way (I didn't, but I will), but he has a major turn in both Pineapple Express (Red) and this film. He's GREAT in this. What he is doing should be tired, but he brings a freshness and energy to it.
I mentioned this in the Review thread, but John Toll lit this thing. John Toll is a fricking god. His last war movie was The Thin Red Line, so you can gather his skill from that. Beyond that, Stiller has it structured very effectively. It never stops being funny.
One last little thing: when the helo is landing in the "new" jungle, they overlay the score with The Name of the Game (the "Calling All Freaks" song, also used in the Blade II trailer) in a very...well, awesome, way. The score is much softer at first, and then slowly becomes audible. Very effective.
And there is an AWESOME HD/Blu-Ray argument disucssing the importance of the PS3 that ends on a PERFECT note, if you love home theater.
Anyways, exceptional comedy for me.
