This Ryan Reynolds movie died an early death when it hit theaters. But after years spent lying in
a cinematic grave, it's getting resurrected for a second shot at the big time on Netflix.
While Ryan Reynolds has starred in some well-received movies like "Deadpool," "Free
Guy," and "Waiting...," his career includes a few box office misfires as well. Nevertheless,
his career seems relatively unshakable with years and years as a leading man. After
appearing in several television series and TV movies early on,
Reynolds got his first big break with "National Lampoon's Van Wilder," in which
he plays a fast talking scamp that doesn't play by the rules. Sounds familiar, no?
"You think Ryan Reynolds got this far on his superior acting method?"
Possible pigeon-holing aside, Reynolds is certainly popular these days, bolstered by
his excitement around playing Marvel's Merc with a Mouth, his constant back and forth on
social media with his famous wife Blake Lively, and his cell phone service company Mint Mobile.
Reynolds is a star outside of major franchise releases too,
including in Apple TV+'s "Spirited," a Reynolds and Will Ferrell Christmastime team-up. Now,
it seems that Reynolds' present day popularity is breathing life into one of his older films,
and one that certainly qualified as a flop when it was originally released.
Currently, Ryan Reynolds's "R.I.P.D." is apparently attracting the attention of a
considerable number of viewers online, landing it at the top of Netflix's Top
10 list. "R.I.P.D." originally premiered in theaters back in
2013 and stars Reynolds and Jeff Bridges as supernatural cops. Remind you of anything?
"Who're you meeting?"
"Well, it's a ship."
"A ship? I didn't see a departure clearance for today."
R.I.P.D.'s light twist on a well-worn genre trope is that the cops are both dead,
and now exist as phantoms in the world of the living. Their jobs as
undead specters see them tasked with hunting down other dead people who remain at large,
attempting to duck the afterlife. This means that Reynolds and Bridges' characters can manifest
in the physical world in different bodies, but with the caveat that they cannot reveal
their true nature to civilians. Of course, this becomes a source of comedy throughout the film.
"I'm not a piece of meat put on this earth for your gratification,
I'm a woman. Respect me or I will castrate you like a three year old steer."
However, it seemed like the critics weren't laughing. Despite an all-star cast comprised
of cinematic powerhouses like Reynolds, Bridges, Kevin Bacon, and Mary-Louise Parker, critics
weren't kind to the film in reviews published around the time of its release. Likewise,
the movie didn't perform well at the box office, earning $79 million against a $130 million budget.
Beyond Reynolds' growing presence in the present day pop cultural zeitgeist,
the resurrection of "R.I.P.D." as a hit on Netflix seems to simply be the result of the film joining
the streaming service's catalog at the start of March 2023. Nevertheless, its sudden and sharp
rise in popularity is all the more surprising when taking into account what critics had to say about
the film in contemporaneous reviews. For example, RogerEbert.com writer Steven Boone awarded
"R.I.P.D." one star, and concluded his review by stating, quote, "It's an awful, awful film."
"This is a joke."
Meanwhile, for The Guardian, Mark Kermode rated the film two-out-of-five stars,
and criticized its lack of a proper reason to exist.
"Overall, it's a directionless mess: too expensive for a B-movie,
too grown-up for a kids' movie (funerals, bereavement and jokes about Steely Dan)
and too infantile for everyone else. No wonder it died on its feet in the US."
That said, its addition to Netflix is, at least, unsurprising. Near the end of 2022, a
prequel — with none of the original cast returning — titled "R.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned" became
available to Netflix subscribers. Of course, for Reynolds' fanbase, quality or the existence of
a sequel may even be beside the point. Rather, easy access to a new Reynolds film seems to have
been enough of a reason to make what was once a major theatrical flop into a streaming success.