Review of Solitary Man (2009) by Le Anne L — 06 Jun 2010

When I mentioned to a couple people I was going to a preview screening of Michael Douglas' new film Solitary Man, (Directors, Brian Koppelman & David Levien) their first response was "I like Michael Douglas". That does seem to be the general consensus, and I'm onboard. I first fell in love with him back in the 80's as Jack T. Colton, Kathleen Turner's romance book hero come to life in Romancing the Stone. However, not even Michael Douglas' likability will have you rooting for him in Solitary Man. Ben Kalmen is an immature, self-destructive, lech. He's supposed to be lovably irrepressible and sagaciously fighting back from professional disgrace. But mostly, you just feel like tuning out and leaving him to his own devices.

Of course, you wouldn't want Kalmen to have it all together, what good would that be in a character study type film. I feel the problem comes, in the execution of revealing who this character was, in relation to who he's become. We don't get that until the very last scene and that's just too late. The other difficulty -- it's too dialogue heavy, not in a clever, fast paced Nancy Meyer's film way, this is more expositional, soliloquy.

I love Danny DeVito, but he and Douglas's chemistry could have been used to better results. I love Susan Sarandon, she's aging so beautifully and she's still so sexy; she plays Kalmen's ex-wife, but her character seems too sympathetic to her ex-husband and although a few years have passed since their divorce, we aren't privy as to why she's so good with everything.

Imogen Poots is a most horrid name, but the actress with this unfortunate moniker was excellent in the film; she plays one of the young women Douglas seduces, who gets far more than what she gives.

2 Tines.