Robert Downey Jr.'s quirkiest characters

Terry Crabtree in "Wonder Boys" (2000)

If Michael Douglas plays “Wonder Boys'” depressive, then Downey is the movie’s manic; an energetic catalyst that kicks the lazy story into motion. As the book publisher who helped turn Douglas' withdrawn academic into a famous writer, Downey enters the movie holding hands with a cross dresser, flirts relentlessly with Douglas’ young apprentice (Tobey Maguire) and keeps asking for a long-overdue manuscript. But Crabtree reveals a somber side in a moonlit drive along the river, when he talks about professional setbacks and suggests his ebullience is just a disguise.