I'VE GOT A FEELING ABOUT THIS, TRIPP. I FEEL THIS KID IN MY BONES: Todd Gilchrist argues that Robert Downey Jr's best role was that of editor Terry Crabtree in The Wonder Boys -- "charming, relentless, dubiously motivated, and always hustling ... combining the altruistic and the predatory, the benevolent and the sinister, into one believable, compelling, and yes, even sympathetic package."
Top five Downey roles, in no order: Chaplin, Iron Man, Wonder Boys, Soapdish, Less Than Zero? Not that I don't love Tropic Thunder, but that was much more the writing than the performance, I thought, and I almost included his live-wire Black and White role or his subdued work in Good Night, and Good Luck or "Ally McBeal," a delicate role at his personal weakest point. But arbitrary numbers require choices, and that's my five.
