Everyone expected a few African-American pressure groups to take offence at the upcoming Tropic Thunder, in which Robert Downey Jr plays a movie star who has his face surgically altered to play a black character

But in fact, disability organisations have raised the biggest stink. In the film, Ben Stiller turns up as a star who has had a big hit playing someone with learning disabilities in a cheesy movie that looks a little like Forrest Gump.

Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, was not chortling. When asked by the New York Times whether he thought a boycott was on the cards, he replied: "Not only might it happen, it will happen." Protestors are outraged at the promiscuous use of the word "retard". (Despite the US being the home of political correctness, that term seems be more acceptable there than here.)

"It's sort of edgy territory," says Stiller, who also directed the film. "But we felt that, as long as the focus was on the actors who were trying to do something to be taken seriously that's going too far or wrong, that was where the humour would come from."

One can understand groups wishing to express their fury at perceived slights, but it is worth noting how singularly ineffective such protests can be. Three- and-a-half decades ago, the Italian-American community got its knickers in a twist about The Godfather. Francis Ford Coppola's film didn't do badly at the box-office. More recently, Jewish groups took offence at portrayals of their religion in The Passion of the Christ. That film became the most successful R-rated movie of all time.

Now we find Reel Newsoffering more free publicity for Tropic Thunder. Expect the movie to be a smash when it opens here in September.

Kids with the big paydays

Welcome back to list corner. Forbesmagazine, an organ that knows how to put its name about in columns such as this, has just published a chart detailing the world's richest tween stars. The qualification for inclusion appears to have as much to do with the age of the performers' audience as with that of the stars themselves, but the list still makes for interesting reading.

Daniel Radcliffe and Miley Cyrus tie for the No 1 spot, while the worrying Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen slither in at No 3. Thereafter, a degree of obscurity (for those over 11, anyway) takes over. The Jonas Brothers at No 4? Various nonentities from High School Musical at Nos 5, 6 and 10? Where are Mickey Rooney and Jack Wild? It just doesn't seem right.

Big stars, some big appetites

Look who it is. While enjoying his lunch at a food court in central Dublin, Reel Newsspied the entire cast of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land- David Walliams, Michael Gambon, David Bradley and Nick Dunning - scoffing their own comestibles at an adjacent table. Bradley likes sushi. Walliams likes salad. But the mighty Gambon went straight for a sandwich the size of his own head.

You can see the gang in No Man's Landat The Gate Theatre from August 26th.

Glory hound ready to roll

More cast members have been announced for Quentin Tarantino's long-delayed (make or break?) Inglorious Bastards. Eli Roth, director of Hostel, will appear alongside Brad Pitt and BJ Novak, one of the stars of the American version of The Office. So, after a decade of humming and hawing, it looks as if the film, a remake of a 1978 Italian trash classic, will actually happen. Wonders never cease.

Mutt not fit to oil Indie's whip

It all seemed so obvious. The closing moments of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skullappeared to make it fairly clear that, despite Indiana's reluctance to hand over his hat, Shia LaBeouf's Mutt Williams was set to become the hero of any future sequels. But George Lucas, the series' producer and co-writer, appears to think otherwise.

"Indiana Jones is Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones," Mr Beardy No-Neck said during an interview to promote this week's Star Wars: The Clone Wars. "If it was Mutt Williams it would be Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis or something."

Ooo! Touchy, touchy. Lucas did, however, confirm that a fifth movie is a possibility. "We are looking for something for [Jones] to go after," Lucas said. "They are very hard to find. It's like archaeology. It takes a huge amount of research to come up with something that will fit."

How about a pipe, a comfy armchair and a boxed set of Murder She Wrote? (He's so old, you see.)