We’re still waiting for Robert Downey Jr. to decide on his next onscreen role in the wake of the disastrous Dolittle, which lost Universal over $100 million and was roundly savaged by critics, gaining a reputation as one of the worst movies of 2020 despite only releasing in the third week of January.
One avenue he should definitely consider exploring, though, is heading back into comedy, because he’s great at it. The actor has only appeared in two projects designed entirely for laughs since he rebooted his own career in spectacular fashion with Iron Man back in 2008, and they were both major success stories that made a whole lot of money and won the star critical acclaim.
He gained an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Tropic Thunder, and teamed up with The Hangover duo of director Todd Phillips and star Zach Galifinakis for Due Date, which hauled in $211 million at the box office on a $65 million budget. The odd couple dynamic generated between RDJ’s fast-talking beleaguered straight man and his opposite number’s eccentric weirdo powers a relatively lightweight story, and only reinforces the fact that the 56 year-old should do comedy a lot more often.
Due Date already dominated the Netflix Top 10 most-watched list when it was added back to the library last September before being removed, so there’s no reason why it won’t do the exact same thing again now that it’s returned to the world’s most popular streaming service. It looks as though Downey Jr. might well be in training for the long-awaited Sherlock Holmes 3, but until he officially confirms his next outing, fans could do a lot worse than revisiting one of the more unsung efforts from his back catalogue.