Hot Nerd Mancrush #9: Robert Downey Jr.
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
You can see the haunted past...oh wait, no you can't! Smug bastard.
I have thought long at hard about this, but, try as I might, I could not come up with a Mancrush for today’s entry. So, how about a man of Iron? Why not Robert Downey Jr? He’s been in enough nerdbait, and, if he hasn’t, he’s a good enough actor to justify it from a movie nerd’s point of view. Hot Nerd Mancrush Robert Downey Jr. starts now.
Let’s get the big one out of the way first. Yes, Robert Downey Jr. played Iron Man, and, with little doubt, he was magnificent in the role. But it was his complete understanding of Tony Stark as an alcoholic smartass that endeared him to me most. It doesn’t hurt that he looks great in those expensive suits with a drink in his hand, either, huh? For me, his best scene is when they show, on the news, the havoc that his weapons have wreaked, and he goes off half cocked to dispense justice. You can almost feel his guilt, remorse, and anger as he puts the metallic slap down on some terrorist candy ass. Maybe it’s the way he swaggers in the suit, who knows? All I know is that Iron Man was one of the best comic book films I’d seen in forever!
When you look at the man, the furthest thing from what pops into your head is probably: Bully. But, he played that part very well in one of my favorite comedies, Weird Science. Then again, you look at him with those clothes and that fucked up hair, and really, what else would he have been. He’s got one of the hottest girls in the school, and if it wasn’t based on his friendship with Mad Max, it was through sheer bravado. Dumping an Icee on the head of the competition doesn’t hurt either.
And, if I looked that good in a tux, I wouldn't wear anything else.
I was happy to see him do a turn as a idealistic young lawyer in the film True Believer. No, it’s not one of the best movies out there, but with Downey as James Woods’s conscience, he plays very well against the weed head scumbag defender. It’s the fresh face, more than anything, I think that gets the point across. He comes into it knowing the legal system is flawed, but he also knows that everyone, under the constitution deserves defense. It’s while you watch him become disillusioned that you see that he’s really the only one in the movie that doesn’t seem to be phoning it in.
It would be remiss of me, of course, to write an article on Robert Downey Jr. and not include his awesomely funny turn as Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder. It’s one thing to appear in a comedy with Jack Black. It’s another thing entirely to steal an entire movie out from under him, and that’s what Mr. Downey Jr. does in spades (please, God, understand that that wasn’t a racially motivated pun…just a turn of phrase! I don’t want to get sued or killed!).
Damn! Sherlock went to the goddamn gym!
I know I’ll get a death threat or two if I don’t mention his Academy Award nominated turn in Chaplin, but, and feel free to run off at the mouth here…I’ve not seen it. I apologize. You could also do a lot worse than checking him out in Zodiac, by the way! I’d go out and buy Chaplin, but I’m saving my money for Iron Man 2 and Sherlock Holmes. (I truly can not wait to see him as Sherlock. And, I know I’m not alone.) So, there he is, Mr. Amer…sorry, Robert Downey Jr. Until the Avengers come out…Excelsior!
Leave a Comment