SAVOY – Parents of children with disabilities recoil at the word "retard," so when it popped up in a movie that opened this week, they mobilized.

Disability advocates protested at the Los Angeles premiere of "Tropic Thunder" earlier this week, and local supporters held a "Rally for Respect" at the movie's opening at the Savoy 16 theater on Wednesday afternoon.

"It's concerned parents and siblings and people in the community that just have had enough of it being socially OK to put down people who have intellectual disabilities," said organizer Jennifer Schrad of Champaign, who has a 1-year-old daughter with Down syndrome.

Schrad said she hadn't seen the movie, as it just opened nationwide Wednesday, but she said Down syndrome organizations in Los Angeles were allowed to pre-screen it, and transcripts are widely available on the Web.

The movie-within-a-movie is an action-comedy about a group of self-absorbed actors who set out to shoot a big-budget war movie but are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.

Director and star Ben Stiller plays an actor who had previously portrayed a mentally disabled character named "Simple Jack." Robert Downey Jr.'s character tells him that he erred in going "full retard" in that role, adding, "Never go full retard."

In another scene, Matthew McConnaghy, playing a movie producer, complains about being "stuck" with an intellectually disabled child, Schrad said.

The word "retard" is used more than 15 times throughout the film, she said.

Special Olympics, the American Association of People with Disabilities and other disability rights groups have called for a boycott.

At the movie's premiere Monday night in Los Angeles, Stiller acknowledged critics' right to protest but defended the film.

"I did not set out to offend anybody, but sometimes, when you are making an R-rated comedy, that happens," Stiller told Entertainment Weekly. "That is not what I set out to do, but I think the movie is good and it speaks for itself."

The movie's defenders say it's satire, intended to poke fun at Hollywood and actors who will do anything to get an Oscar.

A joke in Hollywood is that roles portraying those with disabilities – aka "Forest Gump" – are shoo-ins for Academy Awards.

"The problem is in doing that they are causing undue pain to people with intellectual disabilities," Schrad said. "They are making fun of people."

Even before the movie was released, T-shirts with "Never go full retard" were advertised on the Internet, she said.

"It's already become a common phrase," she said. "Teenagers, middle schoolers, are going to take bits and pieces from that film and they're going to use it. That language is already in popular culture."

Schrad and others set up an informational table in the Savoy 16 lobby Wednesday, with informational materials about people with intellectual disabilities.

Savoy 16 manager Jeremy Curtis declined to comment about the content of "Tropic Thunder," saying the theater's role is to show movies and let viewers decide for themselves.

"Almost every movie has something offensive in it to someone," he said. "We've shown movies from all different viewpoints. We try not to turn any movie or person away. Whether you're for it or against it, you can express your feelings."

Schrad hopes her efforts will help people understand that use of the "R word," even in jest, insults people with disabilities, like her daughter, whether it's intentional or not.

"I would like to spark discussion about why the word 'retard' is still socially acceptable in our society as an insult, especially when school is about to start. I want the hallways to be safer for our kids. I don't want them to have to go back, with all the challenges they already face, to have this new Hollywood popular phrase thrown around."

Schrad understands that publicity about the controversy might actually encourage more people to see the film.

"I'm not naive enough to think that a protest like this, or drawing attention to this movie, would lead to it being altered or changed," she said.

She's read the "horrific" comments posted on the Web in response to other articles about the protests, including one saying, "People with intellectual disabilities are little more than animals in human form. You need to get over yourselves."

"A portion of society will be in that hateful camp that we're not going to be able to reach," she said.

"What I'm hoping to do is reach those in the middle, who don't know what's happening in the film, that isn't being publicized in the trailers. And specifically, if I can reach one person who has a loved one or is a person with an intellectual disability, and let them know what this movie is about before they've been assaulted in the theater, then what I've done is worth it."