Thunder seamlessly blends comedy and action

NEW YORK: "Tropic Thunder," Ben Stiller's extravaganza of a Hollywood satire, couldn't be any more "inside-baseball" if it contained references to the infield fly rule and Rule 5 draft picks.This movie-within-a-movie is certainly his most ambitious production as a director and it contains some of the biggest belly laughs of his career. But while it blends comedy and action sequences far more skillfully and seamlessly than this summer's "Pineapple Express," which shifted from one genre to the other, the endeavor winds up feeling overwrought and repetitive.