In the end, what keeps the whole movie together is not its own logic or lack thereof, but the performances of the cast, which includes not only Robert Downey Jr., but Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, and Gwyneth Paltrow as well. Downey's performance is what the movie is built on, and his ability to portray the hard-working, hard-living, idealistic Stark in a manner that conveys not just the seriousness of the work but the humor of the film is amazing. One can easily imagine that without Downey in the lead role this otherwise wonderful film would have fizzled.
Howard is Colonel James Rhodes, Stark's military liaison, sometimes friend, and minder. It falls to Rhodes to try to keep Stark in line and where he's supposed to be when he's supposed to be there. Howard manages to walk the fine line between Rhodes being completely exasperated and angry with Stark and still not wanting to give up on the man as either a friend or colleague.
It is a line that Paltrow, as Pepper Potts, never quite has to walk. Potts is Stark's long-time assistant and, even if the two would never admit it, friend. Her blind devotion to her boss gets her in deep trouble, and while one would imagine that it might make Potts reconsider her life choices, Paltrow's portrayal brushes aside any such thoughts from the viewer's mind.
As one of the corporate leaders of Stark Industries, and friend to both Tony and his father, Jeff Bridges' Obadiah Stane marks another good performance in the actor's long list of good performances. Despite always taking a back seat to Stark publicly, Stane is, from the outset, clearly a megalomaniac, bent on money and power. However driven he may be though, as shown by Bridges, Stane is almost always in control of his temper and ready to stroke the egos of those around him if it serves his purpose. In a film which has corporate strife as a large component, Stane represents both the perfect steward of a company and a wonderful villain.
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