Review of Solitary Man (2009) by Deborah B — 13 Sep 2010

Solitary Man opens with Ben Kalman (Michael Douglas) at his peak. Life is good and it's only going to get better for the BMW dealer of the greater New York area. He's at the doctor, bragging about his wife (Susan Sarandon) when he finds out that he needs some tests. There's some concern about his health.

We jump to six years later. Ben is divorced. His dealerships are all gone, lost in a scheme that almost sent him to jail. He's reduced to borrowing money from his daughter and playing gigolo to rich divorced women for their connections. When his current flame (Mary-Louise Parker) gets ill, Ben is recruited to accompany her daughter Allyson (Imogen Poots) to a college interview at a school that just happens to have a library named for him. If things couldn't get any worse for Ben, it's this trip to his old school that really tests the way his life has turned out and the direction he is going.

Solitary Man is the story of one mans mid life crisis. There seems to be a point in everyones life where they decide to say "Fuck it" and do what they want to do or, in some case, what they think they want to do. It's the life is too short attitude for Ben. The only problem is that his choices have been crap, even though he appears to be living the dream with a good line of bullshit to boot. The question that Ben never asks himself throughout the film is "was it worth it?". Did going to the extreme benefit his life in any way? Was the grass really greener? Ben may be surrounded by people and have a good line of BS, but he's really all by himself. His crisis has created a shell that nobody gets through. Michael Douglas is perfect in this role and the entire film is a great piece of film making that I feared that was a little over burdened by its cast and subject matter. My worries were unfounded with this good film. It's one of the better things to see in 2010.