The first directorial endeavor from a career actor is always a dicey proposition; for every strong showing from a performer who has clearly paid attention during their time on film sets, there’s a vanity project that gives actors plenty of leeway to emote to the heavens.
For decades, Robert Downey Sr. has been cherished as a key figure in the American film underground, directing unabashedly countercultural pictures during the ’60s and ’70s, and carrying right on through to the present day.
(Most famous of all was 1969’s Putney Swope, a razor-sharp satire of advertising and race on Madison Avenue that billed itself as the “Truth and Soul Movie.”)
Here’s hoping this one’s more Ordinary People than American Pastoral.