The 6 Worst Robert Downey Jr. Movies of the Last 25 Years, Ranked

Robert Downey Jr. is one of the biggest comeback stories in Hollywood, and he has spent the last 25 years rising to superstardom. Since 2001, the actor has won an Oscar, anchored the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and has become one of the most formidable voices in the industry, after being a complete pariah due to his legal and substance abuse troubles. Now, he is coming back to the MCU as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday.

However, it is not all strawberries and tangerines in the past 25 years for the actor. There have been some duds, with some spectacularly so. Using Rotten Tomatoes scores as the main guide, along with critical consensus and the actor’s own comments, this list ranks six of his weakest releases, counting down from number six to number one. 

Some are curious experiments, others are lazy studio products, and one is a very expensive talking animal disaster.

6 The Singing Detective Wastes a Delightful RDJ Performance

This 2003 musical adaptation of Dennis Potter’s celebrated British series places Downey as a bitter writer hospitalized with a skin condition, imagining himself as a gumshoe. Critics gave it 40 percent, and the consensus praised his delightful performance while saying it could not rescue the jump from television to film (via Rotten Tomatoes).

Reviewers called the story disjointed, and the lip-synced musical numbers frustrated viewers. It lands sixth because the ambition is real and Downey commits fully. The film is more strange than awful.

5 Robert Downey Jr. Gets Limited Time in Soderbergh’s Eros

Steven Soderbergh and Robert Downey Jr. are a match made in heaven, especially in the early 2000s when both were at the top of their game. But they collaborated on the anthology Eros, where three filmmakers, Soderbergh, Wong Kar-wai, and Michelangelo Antonioni, directed a segment each. RDJ starred in the segment called Equilibrium. 

The overall anthology received a 33% score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with many criticizing the lack of interesting stories despite such big talents being involved. Downey Jr. played a dreaming, young husband who goes to a therapy session to understand a recurring dream, and the film is as forgettable as it is interesting on paper.

4 Fur Wasted an Interesting Biography And Turned It into a Fairy Tale

Photographer Diane Arbus spent her career capturing the strange and the macabre, treating the ostracized with extreme empathy. The most famous of her photographs was Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, which inspired the horror twins in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. However, Fur explores her life even before she became a photographer.

However, the film is extremely fictitious, with Diane Arbus’ life and encounter with Lionel Sweeney treated like a fairy tale. Many had issues with the film fictionalizing the life of such an important photographer, and the film itself was not appreciated, despite the presence of Downey Jr. and Nicole Kidman. RDJ played Lionel, the man with hypertrichosis.

3 RDJ is Miscast and Wasted in a Lousy Remake of The Shaggy Dog

Disney’s 2006 remake stars Tim Allen as a lawyer who gradually turns into a sheepdog, with Downey playing a scheming scientist, Dr. Kozak, in a supporting role. It holds a 25 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, a clear drop from his better work. The humor leans on predictable pet gags, and the villain role gave Downey little to do except glower. It ranks third because a family comedy should at least be charming, and this one is forgettable, with a talented actor stuck in a thin part.

2 Gothika Failed to Succeed Despite Downey and Halle Berry

Halle Berry and Robert Downey Jr. in a psychological thriller directed by La Haine’s Mathieu Kassovitz was supposed to be one of the greatest films ever. However, Gothika turned out to be among the worst. The film follows Berry’s character, a psychiatrist who wakes up in a mental institution where she works as a therapist, accused of murd*ring her own husband.

Downey plays a fellow doctor in a supporting role, and it is his only horror movie. It scored just 15 percent with critics (via RT). Production also paused when Downey accidentally broke Berry’s arm during a tense scene (via Irish Examiner). It ranks second because the twists feel recycled, the scares are limited, and a strong cast could not elevate an ordinary ghost story.

1 Dolittle Is the Biggest Mess of Robert Downey Jr.’s Recent Career

Well, following Avengers: Endgame with this was a mistake. Thank god for Oppenheimer, because everyone would have really thought RDJ had gone off the rails after Dolittle. Based on the iconic animal-talking character, the film was easily one of the worst decisions of Downey Jr.’s career, and he was nominated for so many Razzie Awards.

The film was a box office bomb, and critics gave it 15% (via RT). RDJ acknowledged that the film didn’t work and that it was hard to come to terms with it, especially after feeling overlooked by the Academy because of his time in the MCU (via Rob Lowe). Thankfully, he gave an Oscar-winning performance in Oppenheimer and redeemed himself.

Which RDJ movie do you think is his worst? Comment below.