Tropic Thunder is the funniest film of the year. I say that having seen plenty of others that weren’t nearly as funny, and I say that with full knowledge of the grumbling about how exactly Tropic Thunder gets there. The problem seems to be that this movie is an intelligent comedy. One where the jokes aren’t telegraphed to hell and back.

This just won’t do.

Evidently no one minds when fart-joke films are foisted upon an unsuspecting public, or when the studios steal from us with the latest Myers, Ferrell, Murphy or Sandler travesty. Nope, that behavior is fine and dandy. It’s the satire that really pisses folks off. I weep for our future.

The premise is the making of a war film. Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Brandon T. Jackson, and Jay Baruchel are dropped off in the jungle to get some footage that faux-director Steve Coogan needs. Matt McConaughey plays Stiller’s over-the-top agent and Tom Cruise does an amazing job as the studio chief. Throw in Nick Nolte as the war film’s source material and Danny McBride as the overeager pyrotechnics man and you’ve got your actor stew. They all have very solid laughs attached to their characters and the film’s pacing and balance is worthy of some love. As I said, funniest film of the year. See it. Take a friend. Pay money. You won’t be disappointed.

So what then are we to make of the controversy that surrounds Tropic Thunder? Ridiculous. People who either haven’t seen the movie or don’t get the joke. Their complaint lies with Ben Stiller’s portrayal of a character called “Simple Jack.” The “retarded” role was one he took in an attempt to win acting accolades, a classic and idiotic Hollywood move. This element is crucial to the back story of the movie, as Stiller is known as the “action guy” who will do anything to prove he’s a real actor. This is set up against Downey Jr.’s crazy portrayal of an African-American. Downey is a real actor (in real life too) but he takes it to the extreme for authenticity’s sake.

But here’s the thing people: They are opposing sides of the same joke spectrum!! What is that joke? Ready for it? Ready to be crazy offended?

Hollywood is full of delusional, self-absorbed, spoiled idiots.

That’s it. That’s the joke. And Stiller’s portrayal of “Simple Jack” isn’t a knock on the learning disabled. It’s a knock on the system that rewards manipulative and pandering schlock. No one is left unscathed here. Studios, agents, actors, directors: they are all held up to the light and mocked. Relentlessly mocked. This is a good thing. This is comedy. Work with me here.

This is why you should see Tropic Thunder. Because it’s damned funny, because it takes chances, and because it’s innovative. This is how comedy evolves. Please don’t let our culture become one that lauds fecal-matter comedy. Please tell me we’re better than that with your box-office dollars.

We must make a stand as a society. We’ve got to choose our course. The paths ahead of us are as follows: we can lay down and let people without a firm grasp of what they’re talking about run roughshod over progress. Or we can fight. We can fight back against the uninformed and the ignorant protesting a comedy that they either haven’t seen or didn’t fully understand.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that the test of a first-rate intelligence is “the ability to hold two opposing ideas at the same time.” Yes, this film will be offensive to the people who don’t get the joke. Yes, it is also a very well made and humorous movie. These may seem like opposing views, but there is room for everyone in this big tent. But don’t you dare try to take away an artist’s right to create. The place where vanilla comedy and themes roam free and cash in is not the place I want to live.

Actually, now that I think about it, perhaps a Ludacris lyric used in the film might is more appropriate. He opines, quite learnedly:

“Get back! You don’t know me like that!”

Grade: A