Action movie star Tugg Speedman is struggling to regain his serious acting reputation after a disastrous performance in "Simple Jack". He joins Jeff Portnoy, a comedian with a reputation for drug use, and Kirk Lazarus, a method actor who undergoes extreme physical transformations for his roles, on the set of "Tropic Thunder", a war movie based on the memoirs of Vietnam veteran 'Four Leaf' Tayback. The production is plagued by the egos of the three lead actors, and the director, Damien Cockburn, tries to bring them together by dropping them into the jungle to work together as a team. However, they soon discover that they are in the midst of a real-life drug war led by the Flaming Dragons, and Speedman is captured and tortured. As the remaining actors try to figure out what to do, they go through a journey of self-discovery and face their own personal demons.

Tropic Thunder
As a film crew gets caught in the midst of a war, they realize their script has become a reality, leaving them to navigate the treacherous terrain and fight for their lives.