Robert Downey Jr.’s Worst Movie Chosen By Fans
The votes are in on the worst movie for Robert Downey Jr. and the choice bringing up the bottom might be a bit surprising for the actor
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When it’s all said and done, even with a long (and mostly) prosperous career, Robert Downey Jr. will likely be most well known for playing Tony Stark/ Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s what happens when you are the most recognizable (or close to it) character in a billion-dollar franchise. So sure, you could say that’s something to hang a career hat on. But, much like most actors, Robert Downey has had some bad movies in there as well. It’s the name of the Hollywood game after all. Now, fans have voted on what they think is the worst movie from Robert Downey Jr. It’s a bit surprising.
SlashFilm ran a survey among its readers to find out the worst movie from Robert Downey Jr. For simplicity’s sake, they took six movies that were already circling the drain on his resume. This was likely the correct approach to avoid folks getting in there and downvoting obviously good films. They also chose movies that were often cited as Downey Jr.’s worst, meaning there was going to be some subjectivity in there as well. When the voting came out in the wash, The Judge was there at the bottom.
The Judge came out in 2014 which followed Robert Downey Jr. going through his initial run in the first three Iron Mans and the first Avenger movie. It was part of a time of the actor taking films that were decidedly outside of the superhero/ action space. He had done the buddy comedy film Due Date a few years before along these same lines. The Judge had Downey Jr. starring with Robert Duvall who plays his father. The film centers on the relationship between Downey Jr., a lawyer, and Duvall, the titular judge with whom he’s become estranged.
In The Judge, Robert Downey Jr. goes about making amends with his father who finds himself battling cancer while also on trial for a fatal hit-and-run accident. The flick plays on sentimentality between the two as they reform their relationship though the circumstances around the situation are odd and even a little off-putting at times. The movie doesn’t totally work in the execution and had critics mixed at the time. It’s sitting at 49% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It’s not all that shocking that The Judge was voted the worst Robert Downey Jr. movie though going in I would have definitely thrown Dolittle in there. Not only did it cost $175 million to make and earned *only* $257 million back at the box office, but the critical response to this mess was much lower. It’s currently sitting at 14% on the Tomatometer which frankly, feels a bit high.
In all though, these aren’t the movies Robert Downey Jr. will be remembered for. No, those, at least for now with be the ones that came in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His casting as Tony Stark in 2008s Iron Man not only reignited his career, but was also the perfect choice for the snarky, ego-driven, quick-tongued leader of the Avengers. All these years later, it’s hard to imagine anyone else taking the reins in quite the same way and he should be credited, as much as anyone, for getting this franchise off the ground and off to the races.
