For many years, Hollywood didn’t really know what to do with Ryan Reynolds. He was tried as a romantic lead, but few of his romance films were enormous hits (“Just Friends” isn’t really well known, although 2009’s “The Proposal” did well). He also stumbled as an intense horror icon; the remake of “The Amityville Horror” didn’t do him any favors. Reynolds was celebrated as a comedic lead in films like “Waiting…” and “Van Wilder,” but he could only play an immature buffoon for so long. Many know of his missteps as an action star, as films like “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “Green Lantern” have been wildly lambasted by fans and even Reynolds himself. It wouldn’t be until performances in films like “The Voices,” “Pokémon Detective Pikachu,” and of course, “Deadpool” that the destined-for-stardom star would finally become a force to be reckoned with. His 2024 film “Deadpool & Wolverine” (which he also produced and co-wrote) made over $1.3 billion.
In 2013, three years before “Deadpool,” Reynolds was cast in Robert Schwentke’s fantasy actioner “R.I.P.D.,” a film that should have worked on paper. Reynolds starred as a recently deceased cop named Nick Walker who, in the afterlife, is forcibly inducted into the titular R.I.P.D. or Rest in Peace Department. The R.I.P.D., armed with supernatural guns and shape-shifting powers, trek into the world of the living to apprehend souls who have escaped judgement. Nick is paired with an Old West sheriff named Roycephus Pulsipher (Jeff Bridges), and — in true buddy cop fashion — they initially hate each other. Their dynamic was clearly derived from J and K (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones) from “Men in Black.”
“R.I.P.D.” cost about $150 million to make, as it was chock-full of wild, supernatural SFX. It was immediately met with critical scorn, racking up a mere 13% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it Reynolds’ worst-reviewed movie. It made only about $79 million worldwide, making it the second-biggest bomb in Reynolds’ career. Only “Green Lantern” lost more.
R.I.P.D. was a huge bomb
The biggest problem with “R.I.P.D.” isn’t its similarities to “Men in Black” (which are legion), but the fact that it’s not funny. Reynolds is a very funny guy, but his chemistry with a crotchety Jeff Bridges never manifested. There is also a fun conceit that is never explored to its fullest. When members of the R.I.P.D. arrive on Earth, they look normal to each other, but appear as alternate avatars to everyone else. Reynolds takes the form of James Hong, an actor who was in his early 80s when the film came out, while Roycephus takes the form of Sports Illustrated and Victoria’s Secret model Marisa Miller. The body swapping could have raised all manner of intriguing questions of identity and appearance, but the film mostly sticks with simple gags about Nick’s insecurity; he’d rather not be an elderly man.
Most critics assertively panned “R.I.P.D.,” calling it an unfunny mess. Steven Boone, writing for RogerEbert.com, made the clear “Men in Black” comparison before calling it generic at heart, and incredibly derivative across the board. He only like Mary Louise Parker as the cop back at the station who doles out R.I.P.D. assignments. Manohla Dargis from the New York Times noted that Jeff Bridges was the film’s only saving grace, while Richard Corliss from Time Magazine said that watching the film was like waiting for jury duty. “The movie is almost over,” he wrote. “I now feel as if I’ve been strapped into a hospital bed, and the wall TV is blaring a ‘Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo’ marathon, and I can’t reach the remote.” Writing for the Wrap, Alonso Duralde said the film would have felt more at home as a “mid-1980s NBC pilot designed to take the 9:00 hour between ‘Misfits of Science’ and ‘Manimal.'”
“R.I.P.D.’s” 13% approval rating is even lower than Reynolds’ “Van Wilder” (18%), the 2015 body-swap thriller “Self/Less” (also 18%), and the obscure ensemble drama “Fireflies in the Garden” (21%). Even notorious duds like “Blade: Trinity” and “Green Lantern” have approval ratings in the 25% range. “R.I.P.D.” isn’t even interestingly bad.
