Plus he has the spinner from his dayton's in his hand, keys in his hand, reason again, to let you know he's the man

For a long time I was upset I didn't get a chance to see the movie "Iron Man," starring Robert Downey Jr. Even when the movie was being hyped up last year, I was perplexed by the fact that Hollywood gave this guy a leading role since the ongoing punch line for years that Downey was a complete drug addict and not particularly talented to begin with. So the fact that Marvel chose him to be a protagonist their movie never sat right with me. But as Ari Gold once said, "Hollywood loves a comeback."

From the reports of friends, I was pretty sure the movie would be pretty good. The current standard for super hero movies is set pretty high and all the ones I've seen have found a way to be impressive in their own way. "Iron man" was painfully unimpressive. There were a lot of fallible qualities in this movie but the one I hated most was the writing. I realize that Tony Stark as a character was supposed to the colloquial "man," one who is simultaneously cooler, hotter, smarter and more casual than all of us could possibly strive to be. But I haven't seen a character's characteristics shoved so far down an audience's throat since..... ever. It's never this horrible. Lines like "If my calculations are correct, and they usually are.....," make this movie not only unenjoyable but painful.

I realize that super-hero movies should be flooded with implausible scenarios, but there is a certain subtlety to character development that escapes this movie. Somewhere along the line, an audience member wants to feel that they've "discovered" something about the character that wasn't laid directly in front of them. Tony Stark and his epic "coolness" was shoved down my throat a day and half ago and I've been coughing him up and spitting him out the front door ever since.