Review of The Soloist (2009) by Ilja R — 09 Feb 2010

Continuing his comeback, Robert Downey Jr. stars with Jamie Foxx in "The Soloist," a film about a schizophrenic homeless man named Nathaniel (Foxx) and the LA Times reporter who writes columns about him, Steve Lopez (Downey).

As Lopez tries to help Nathaniel and take apart the puzzle that is Nathaniel's brain, he writes columns about his encounters for the LA Times and gains attentions to the issue of homelessness in LA. As Lopez spends more and more time with Nathaniel and tries to understand how much he loves music, Lopez reexamines his own life and tries to figure out what he loves the most.

Downey and Foxx's chemistry is very believable, and their friendship is shown beautifully. The flashback scenes are done well and give us the perfect amount of information to make us feel much more for Nathaniel. Lopez's family issues are touched upon briefly, but not delved into to deeply, dropping the whole subject about half way through the movie.

The film feels a lot like 'Reign Over Me' which came out in 2007, and stumbles through most of the same problems that it had. The narrative is very fractured, holding onto a lot of plot points, but letting a few key ones slip through the cracks. Although not even two hours in length, the movie feels like it drags a lot and leaving the audience wondering when we are going to get back to the plot.

Although it has its faults, 'The Soloist' is enjoyable and worth a view.