>Like, I see people bringing up Robert Downey, Jr. How else
>does he play this character without it being some boring, dry
>slog, or a male screaming and hollering variation on Ryan,
>which is also boring and unbelievable and misses the entire
>point of the character/story? Say RDJ were cast, and if he
>didn't give cats some of that snarky Iron Man/Sherlock Holmes
>flavor, then they would have been pissed about that, too.

And I like Clooney and what he usually brings to the table.

I only brought it up because RDJ has that "flip-from-cool-to-super-earnest" mode that's unparalleled among contemporary actors in my opinion. That and, yknow, the casting.

I think people would've railed against whoever played it because of the character's role-- people rarely like the "Character Who Exists Mostly To Asks Questions To Reveal Main Character Backstory" part, regardless of the actor. The flaws inherent in the part reside with the writer/filmmaker, not with the actor, in this case, IMO.