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Oh, now we get it: That Polo Lounge power summit last week between Tom Cruise and Sumner Redstone was not the prodigal-son mea culpa we thought it was, smoothing the waters on which Cruise would coast back into the safe harbor of Redstone's reeling Viacom flagship. Rather, it was just a quick bite to catch up about Katie, Suri, Laurie and maybe for Cruise to apologize in advance for his scathing, fat-suited cameo as a depraved studio boss in Tropic Thunder:

At an industry screening Tuesday night of the forthcoming comedy Tropic Thunder from Paramount Pictures and its unit DreamWorks, Tom Cruise brought down the house with his surprise portrayal of a bald, hairy-chested, foulmouthed, dirty-dancing movie mogul of the kind who is only too happy to throw an actor to the wolves when his popularity cools. ...

[T]he performance is likely to draw attention, since Paramount is weighing a plan in which it would build buzz with extensive screenings of Tropic Thunder before its Aug. 15 release, much as 20th Century Fox did in 2006 with Borat... At Tuesday's screening Mr. Stiller told attendees that his new film was still in rough form. "If you have any suggestions, feel free to post them directly on the Internet," he said.

More specifically, please post them directly in our inbox. Presuming Redstone has already seen his nemesis' handiwork, we'd like to know if, say, any morning coffee was spit out, how far, what it was chased with and, of course, whether or not Tropic Thunder is either the surest signal or the certain ruin of a Cruise/Redstone rapprochement. Operators are standing by!