Weird Science to Iron Man…drug addiction to Hollywood’s most in-demand and highest paid actors.  Sound Familiar?  My pop culture mavens are screaming…that’s Robert Downey Jr.!!!

Yep, our very own Tony Stark took his personal reinvention to a Whole. Notha. Level off screen!   I loved the guy in Pretty in Pink and Charlie Chaplin, forgave him for Tropic Thunder and have him etched in time after the ending of Avengers - Endgame.  But it was those middle years that I held my breath as a fan.  In between 1996 to 2001, he unquestionably played the role of a lifetime.  Downey played himself.  He sped down a road that included drug addition, rehab, jail, a tanking career and eventually self-discovery and ultimately recovery.

I was nine years old when Weird Science came out.  I remember really wanting Ian, the preppy bully that Downey played in the film to get what was coming to him.  Payback, ya know? And of course,...