Tuesday, July 6, 2010

SOLITARY MAN

“SOLITARY MAN” (Michael Douglas)

There are a lot of decent supporting roles in this film, but its Michael Douglas’s baby from start to finish so he’s the only ‘star’ that should be mentioned.
This is the type of film that if they made more movies like it, I probably wouldn’t have cared for it all that much – but it is an anomaly; a character driven story with absolutely no stunts, explosions or eye-popping visuals – in other words, a film with dialogue. Yet, at the same time, would I call this film exciting or tell everyone, ‘hey, you gotta go see this movie, its fantastic!” – No, I would not. It’s a good film because they don’t make ‘em like this very often. Is it worth seeing? Definitely, especially if you don’t need your eyes popped out every 5 minutes & you enjoy a good character study with actors playing believable people.
“Solitary Man” is the story of Ben Kalmen (Douglas) the one-time extremely successful owner of several car dealerships that went bankrupt because Ben got greedy and started doing business the under-handed way. The film opens with Ben attempting to gain the financial backing to start a new dealership in New Jersey.
Throughout the story, Ben’s ex-wife, Nancy (Susan Sarandon) current younger girlfriend, Jordan (Mary-Louis Parker) her daughter, Allyson (Imogen Poots) his daughter, Susan (Jenna Fischer) Ex-college buddy (Danny DeVito) & college kid he meets (Jesse Eisenberg) filter in & out of his life. Everyone, with the exception of Parker, is excellent in their roles.
Ben is a horndog; a fact his girlfriend (Parker) should have been well aware of, yet she insists that he act as chaperone for her daughter on her trip to try to make it into a prestigious college (with alumnus Ben’s help by putting in a good word with the dean)
Ben makes a deal with Allyson that he won’t tell on her if she doesn’t tell on him and soon Ben is teaching Daniel(Eisenberg) the kid that is assigned to show him around campus how to pick up, nail and satisfy your typical college coed. When Ben questions his old pal Jimmy Marino (DeVito) who runs the town diner on why he doesn’t hit on the sexy young women that eat at his establishment, Marino replies, “Sure, they’re hot now, but in a couple of years they’ll put on pounds and add some wrinkles... and I’ve already got one of those at home.”
It shows the difference in the two men (Other than Ben is a fairly attractive old geezer and Jimmy is not) in that Marino looks at women from a relationship standpoint and Ben looks at them as conquests to be used and then forgotten. So it comes as no surprise when Ben screws up and his life falls apart in a matter of days. Ben’s Son-In-Law sums up the lead character perfectly when he says, “Every time I lower the bar of expectation for you Ben, you still manage to limbo right under it.”
Musically, the opening title song posed a question in my mind that I’ve always wondered – How in the heck did Johnny Cash ever make a living as a ‘singer’? At least Dylan was a decent songwriter, but as The Man In Black ‘talked’ his way thru the early Neil Diamond tune, I just wanted it to end – quickly - & I love Diamond’s original version – Why didn’t they just use that, or get someone who could sing to do a decent re-make?
It is definitely the front runner for worst version of a good song used in a film for 2010.
And I picked on Mary-Louise Parker because I didn’t see anything from her in this role that I haven’t seen before – Now, some may say the same of Jesse Eisenberg, but at least he made me believe he WAS that character – I didn’t buy Parker in her role for a second.
I won’t spoil the ending other than to let you know, it leaves you to draw your own conclusion – For me, it was obvious what Ben was going to do after the screen went blank – but for the group of older women who were discussing the ‘up in the air’ finale, they were all convinced that Ben would change his ways... Okay, maybe a kid in his teens or early twenties might become a different person someday – But a character old enough to be played by Kirk Dou, um, I mean Michael Douglas? Ain’t gonna happen.

6 comments:

movie luva said...

I have not seen it. I think it's still playing Seattle. If I can't catch it on time I will be able to get it on demand.
Usually I can see 3 movies a week but have being working a lot, and have only seen one a week for a few weeks.
Maybe I'll just get up earlier tomorrow and cut off early tonight and see if it's still playing in Seattle.

No Bad Movies said...

I really liked this film. But it hits right my mind is thirsting for film wise...well acted perfo\rmances and original stories.

movieluva said...

It is playing Seattle and I saw it last night ! I got the movie confused with another one.
This is definitely in my top 5 of the year so far now.
I hope Douglas gets some kind of award recognition for this one...it would be a good make up for their lousy snubs for Wonder Boys performance.
Had I not read your review and been reminded of SM, I surely wouldn't have seen it in the theater.

dbm said...

As of right now, he should be the front runner to win best actor. But we still have half a year leftof performances to still see. I think it would be cool if he at least got a nomination come February, because I felt he was robbed for Wonder Boys.

No Bad Movies said...

Hey Terry...why does it say you have 4 replies but there is only 3 previous to the one I'm writing now. Thought that was weird.

Terry R. said...

I've never paid any attention to the comments #, but it said 4 including yours when I logged in. Perhaps Goggle was anticipating your reply?
Whenever I get bored with my own writing & wonder if I should stop doing this, I can recall the times when someone has written how my review actually influenced them to go see a film that they enjoyed (Ala movie luva & 'Solitary Man')
& that makes me want to continue.
So, to all of my regulars & to those of you who read my sarcastic rants & raves without commenting, THANK YOU. My goal here is to hopefully entertain, so when I read how someone had a good time by checking out a film that I recommended that makes this blog all worthwhile.
Although I have no problem jumping on the Michael Douglas Best Actor nomination bandwagon, I still think that Leonardo DiCaprio did an excellent job with the difficult role of Teddy Daniels in 'Shtter Island' (Despite what critics have said)
Right now I have those two as my co-favorites with R. Crowe, R. Downey Jr. & M. Gibson rounding out the top 5(with an extra nod to Matt Damon in 'Green Zone')
I picked Robert Downey, Jr. over Matt because Downey made 'IM2' enjoyable whereas 'GZ' was a good story that Damon was part of...