Robert Downey Jr. has been acting since he was five years old. But while he has spent most of his life in front of the camera, his career has experienced varying degrees of success. In the '80s he was part of the famous "Brat Pack" and in the '90s he received an Academy Award nomination for his role as Charlie Chaplin in the biopic, Chaplin (1992). However, problems with substance abuse would temporarily derail his career in the late '90s and early 2000s.
In 2008 he played Tony Stark in Iron Man, the first entry in what is now the vast Marvel Cinematic Universe. Downey Jr.'s comeback as Stark has made him the face of the MCU and the most successful he has ever been to date. Since his career revival and association with the MCU, it can be hard to see him as anyone other than the genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist; but during the 2010s, Downey Jr. managed to act in five other movies. Here they are, ranked by their scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
Love & Distrust (10%)
On paper, the concept of a romance film featuring five different love stories sounds like it could be hit or miss. But throw in Robert Downey Jr., James Franco, Amy Adams, and Robert Pattinson and there's potential for the film to be good or (at the very least) draw a large audience. However, not even the star power in Love & Distrust (2010) was enough to save it from poor reviews.
On Rotten Tomatoes there isn't even a critic consensus; just a paltry audience score of 10%. While this is Downey Jr.'s lowest ranking film on this list, he can take solace in the fact that its direct-to-video release meant that even though viewers didn't like it, there weren't that many of them to begin with.
Due Date (40%)
In the same year as Love & Distrust, Downey Jr. co-starred with Zach Galifianakis in the black comedy Due Date (2010). Having recently proved his comedic talent in Tropic Thunder (2008), it seemed like a natural next step for Downey Jr. to star in this kind of film. Due Date follows Peter (Downey Jr.) as he is forced to drive to Los Angeles to be on time for the birth of his first child. He is accompanied by Ethan (Galifianakis), an eccentric aspiring actor.
In an interview with Cinemablend, Robert Downey Jr. revealed that he found the opportunity to play an unlikable protagonist "pleasant," and that he and Galifianakis formed an "antagonistic friendship" over the course of shooting. He referred to Due Date (at the time) as "the second greatest film I've ever done." While its Rotten Tomatoes score doesn't reflect his sentiments, Downey Jr. claims that at a screening he attended, he heard audience members laughing, saying "Oh my god, it's gotta stop- my face hurts!"
The Judge (48%)
In 2014, Downey Jr. produced and starred in the drama The Judge. He shared the screen with another famous Robert: Robert Duvall of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now fame. In it, Downey Jr. plays Hank Palmer, a ruthless attorney who returns to his small town for his mother's funeral. While there, he ends up having to help his father, Judge Joseph Palmer, with some legal trouble despite their strained relationship.
The film received mixed reviews upon release. The story was seen as a standard but forgettable legal drama. However, Downey Jr. and Duvall's performances received praise, with Duvall even being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (60%)
Just as The Avengers was about to take off as a franchise, Robert Downey Jr. was still known to a lot of fans for starring in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009). The year before the Avengers officially assembled, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) was released. The success of Sherlock Holmes was unexpected, and in a bid to cash in, Warner Brothers fast-tracked the sequel. This caused Downey Jr. to drop out of Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens (2011).
The sequel received decent reviews, and a third installment is set to be released in 2021. This film takes Holmes and Watson in a different direction from the first two films, setting the plot in the United States instead of Europe. Fans have been waiting for the third entry for the better part of the decade. As he retreats from the MCU, Robert Downey Jr. at least has another beloved character and franchise to return to!
Chef (87%)
Though Downey Jr. dropped out of MCU co-star Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens, he made up for it by appearing in his 2014 film Chef. Downey Jr. had a brief cameo in the movie, playing Marvin, the ex-husband of Inez (Sofia Vergara), who herself is the ex-wife of the eponymous chef, Carl (Jon Favreau). Marvin gives Carl a dilapidated food truck in order to help him start his own business.
Unlike most of Favreau's films, Chef was a lower budget indie that received a leg-up from appearances by Robert Downey Jr. and his other MCU costar, Scarlett Johansson. For Favreau, this was a passion project rather than a cash grab. Upon its release, Chef received critical acclaim from audiences and critics alike. It is worth noting that in 2016, Downey Jr. also made another (uncredited) cameo "playing" the body of Sid Shattuck in The Nice Guys (which has a 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes). It goes to show that an appearance by Downey Jr. in any capacity is always worth watching.