Customer Reviews

Solitary Man

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The film follows Michael Douglas as he comes to grips, or doesn't, with his age and the fact that his personal life as passed him by. The movie begins with Douglas receiving the news that he needs some test performed on his heart because his doctor has some concerns. Time then flashes forward six years, where Douglas is now divorced with a daughter in her early 30s (played expertly by Jenna Fischer), a grandson who is five, and a girlfriend (Mary Louise Parker) who he is using for her father's power. Hints are dropped that Douglas was involved in some sort of scam that caused him to lose his extremely profitable business and threw him into a scandal that destroyed his reputation. The rising action begins when Douglas must escort his girlfriend's daughter to his alma mater for the weekend. While in Boston, Douglas makes a terrible decision that threatens to unravel whatever life he has left.

Though this film received little attention, I thought that it was absolutely excellent and worth an Oscar nomination (being that they're handing them out willy nilly now). Susan Saradon plays Douglas' ex and does so expertly with just the perfect amount of anger, pity, and old love. Douglas plays the philandering 60+ year old who still thinks he's 20 perfectly. The end of the movie leaves people guessing, but can also be used as a conversation starter and had me thinking about the film long after I left the theater.

No one does loathsome charm like Michael Douglas! In a career filled with oily characters, Ben Kalmen is easily one of the more reprehensible creations that Douglas has fleshed out. Seemingly without one redemptive character trait, "Solitary Man" doesn't shy away from the ugliness, desperation, and fear that fuel Kalmen's self destructive bent. And as much as you may despise the man, Douglas manages to convey enough humanity and humor to keep you hoping for more. It's an intricately balanced role and Douglas deftly handles its challenges. If you're not with Douglas for good and bad, than you will likely find "Solitary Man" quite unpleasant. Douglas had me, however, and backed by a solid and wildly appealing supporting cast--"Solitary Man" became an amusingly direct look at a man dealing with his own mortality.

With a brief introduction, we meet Douglas as a successful man facing a possible health crisis. Fast forward six years. Douglas is now broke, unemployed and practically unemployable due to a scandal, divorced, and carrying on with a woman for her business connections. He's an aging lothario who seems to be actively working to estrange himself from his family and his closest friends. The thought of not living life on his own terms has caused him to systematically deconstruct everything that was once successful and lovable about his old persona. Douglas is fearless as I mentioned above and his trysts with younger, and some patently inappropriate, women range from comical to quite unsettling. Douglas ultimately does have to start addressing his shortcomings, but is it too little and too late?

While Douglas may be difficult to like--he is certainly surrounded by a plethora of people who still care. The film shines in its supporting cast. I'd single out Jenna Fischer (TV's "The Office") as Douglas's daughter who in many ways is the heart of this piece and Jesse Eisenberg as a youth idolizing Douglas who is the hope of the film. Both are terrific--perhaps Fischer's best work to date. Mary-Louise Parker, Danny Devito and Susan Sarandon also lend solid support. Ultimately, "Solitary Man" may be too slight for some viewers--there are no big declarations and/or revelations. As a character study, it is a fascinating look at a flawed individual making bad choices in order to feel relevant and alive. To see this cast at work, that's all I needed! Not for everyone--but those that like "Solitary Man" will like it a lot. KGHarris 9/10.

"Solitary Man," stars Michael Douglas, who plays Ben Kalman, a middle-aged man whose annual physical triggers a self-centered need to recreate his youth. He throws off all responsibilities in his life. He was a very successful luxury car dealer, happily married and set for life. The doctor's recommendation to have more tests on his heart shocks him visibly with fear of dying. He does not want to know more or take tests to find out what the diagnosis is.

Over the next six-and-a-half years, Ben transforms into an unappealing pathetic soul as one by one friends and family cut him off. He continues begging people for money and jobs, plus finds time to get into complicated sexual situations with a friend of his daughter as well as the daughter of the woman he is currently dating. His career in a mess and he is a loser with every woman he meets. He cannot find pleasure in positive things, and in the end he is alone, a "Solitary Man."

Somehow Douglas makes this unappealing character real, and the movie is a fascinating drama-comedy.

Other reviewers have rightly pointed to Michael Douglas' strong performance in this film, and I agree. I'm not going to cover that ground again. I just want to say that the character he plays is not the only "pitiful" or "pathetic" one in this film. Other than cameos by Danny Devito as the old college chum and Susan Sarandon as the wife he left for the proverbial younger woman, there are no shining examples of good behavior in "Solitary Man."

Unlike in Douglas' tour de force, "Fatal Attraction," those hoping for some wonderful bum shots are not going to get them; but the woman scorned in "Solitary Man" is still a nightmare. First, she pushes him into taking her daughter for admission interviews at his old college, to use his "pull" to get her in. Was it such a surprise that the daughter turned out to be as jaded and manipulative as her mother? And what does the man do after this young woman goes out of her way to yank his in-denial chain? Predictably, they wind up in bed with each other (two consenting adults) and that should have been the end of a tawdry one-night stand.

[Cue Devito as Louie DePalma: "But, NOOOOOOOO!"]

The daughter goes out of her way to spill the beans to her mother in a vicious little vignette, and then the woman scorned goes out of her way to visciously trash what's left of his life. It just takes a few angry phone calls, and agreements he was counting on are summarily withdrawn and he is treated like scum by everyone except the only two friends he has. One has to wonder what was going on between the mother and daughter and if the daughter did not set up the whole thing to get back at her mother for some slight. The movie could have been stronger had this been explored a little more deeply, but viewers can use their imaginations as to motive.

Douglas' character is not a sympathetic one, mind you, and he's not the brightest bulb when it comes to relationships--how many men do you know who are?--but he isn't conniving and downright mean. He is like so many middle-aged men who long for (and sometimes act out) their fantasized glory days, some more pathetically than others. Men leaving their wives for girls young enough to be their daughters (or granddaughters) and the mid-life "red sports car syndrome" are cliches precisely because the behaviors are so prevalent and (sometimes) laughably predictable. But most men do eventually grow up.

Would this washed-up car dealer have finally matured and dealt with his dependence on all things young and bright and shiny had he not had to hit rock-bottom first? It's hard to say. But I think I know what he did in the end: He did the only thing that a grown man would or could do.

"Don't know that I will but until I can find me
A girl who'll stay and won't play games behind me
I'll be what I am
A solitary man
A solitary man"
Neil Diamond

It has been said that the role of Ben Kalman was made for Michael Douglas. Could be, there are similarities of the behaviors from what I have read. However, Michael Douglas made this man, Ben Kalman come to life. No doubt, no question.

Ben Kalman has always been the man in the middle of the room, that everyone stared at. The man everyone wanted to know. As a car dealer, he built a business that was the best in New York State. He appeared on the covers of all the right magazines and all the right television shows. Until that day when a physician told him he had something not quite right on his electrocardiogram. He had already started to feel invisible. I think he meant that all the attention was no longer on him. So, he became a real lady's man, bedding whatever female he met. This led to a divorce from the only woman, he ever really loved, Nancy, played by Susan Sarandon. And, he became an absent father to his daughter, Susan, played by Jenna Fischer. But, of course, daughters forgive and she is in and out of his life. Ben has an affair with a rich woman, Mary-Louise Parker. Her father has strings and can open avenues for a new car dealership. Her daughter, wants to go to the same college Ben did in Boston and Ben brings her there to talk with the Dean and smooth things out. As things fall apart, so does Ben. But, as always, he thinks he can charm his way out of anything. In the end, Ben has to make decisions, and does he make the right ones?

A film of a man who is alone, lonely, fills his life with younger woman, wine and song. He forgets what matters in life, and even though his best friend, Danny Devito, tells him like it is, Ben doesn't see. Michael Douglas plays Ben as the man everyone wants to be, the man who would beg for rent money from his daughter, and finally as the man who needs to face himself. Probably one of Michael Douglas's best performances. He was a contender!

Highly Recommended. prisrob 09-23-10

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SOLITARY MAN is either a depressing movie or a movie about a depressing society - until the film is over and afterthoughts dredge up memories of very similar people. Then it simply becomes a Greek tragedy. Writer Brian Koppelman introduces a character that is all charm and façade who begins to take himself seriously (believing the false front that has lead him to a 'successful' life) after a routine physician's check up reveals an abnormal EKG. Facing the ultimate fragility of life and the insight that his last years may be approaching more rapidly than he ever thought possible, our 'hero' begins a downhill skid and the effects. It is a march that is sad to watch, but due to the sensitivity of directors Brian Koppelman and David Levien and to the impressive performance by Michael Douglas, it stays imprinted on the brain long after the film's subtle ending fades.

Ben Kalman (Michael Douglas) is the person of interest in this story, a man who six years prior to the opening of the film is informed of his mortality, and in the last six years this car dealer has gone form disposing of his honest reputation to the point of participating in scams, being arrested, bedding every 19 year old girl he can, losing his money, divorcing his wife (Susan Sarandon), losing the respect of his daughter (Jenny Fischer) whose husband requests she not see her father nor expose their son to him, cheating on his girlfriend with important family ties (Mary Louise Parker) by inappropriate activity with her daughter (Imogen Poots), and being refused financing despite his friend (Ben Schenkman) attempts on his behalf. He finally ends up on the campus where he met his wife, meets a shy student (Jesse Eisenberg) and in attempting to give him lessons about how to attract women unveils an even more ugly aspect of his position, and finally meets up with his only friend from college days - the local pub man (Danny DeVito) who may never have reached the heights of Ben but has remained an honest and caring friend. How all of these errors of judgment and despicable behavior catch up with him frames an ending for the film - one that leaves the audience to decide if he has indeed learned form his missteps.

Not a happy story and while billed as a comedy/drama, it is the drama that usurps the comedy. Michael Douglas hands this role with complete involvement: would that we could only care about his character. The stars attached to the cast give excellent cameos. For a 'downer' film it is well done. Grady Harp, September 10

I Timothy 6:9 says"... those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction."

As with Daniel Plainview in "There will be Blood", Ben Kalmen descends into a similar abyss of depravity and self absorption and thus becomes the "Solitary Man".

Brian Koppelman has crafted a Godless, hedonistic world as we focus almost exclusively on the Michael Douglas' character while all the rest of the great ensemble cast remains in orbit around his increasingly darkened sun.

Inexplicably the movie is listed as a comedy - though to my mind there is very little to laugh about - in fact I found the story compellingly depressing. The gentlest character is played in an understated way by Danny DeVito as an old college friend turned deli owner who demonstrates genuine, though some might say, undeserved compassion. Another Douglas character, that had similar issues but played comedically was his part in the remake of "The In-Laws"

Part of the compelling nature of this movie revolves around the inability of the Douglas character to recognize his own fallibility. He persists in the reckless and dangerous pursuit of pleasure, all the time living in the potential shadow of heart failure. It is the opening scene of the movie that provides the metaphor for the entire film as Ben chooses to ignore a potentially damaging diagnosis of heart disease.

In the end the movie is appropriately ambivalent as the screen turns black without us knowing whether Ben Kalmen turns towards home or continues towards his inevitable destruction.

The movie is justifiably rated "R" and has an extremely mature theme including a rather graphic sex scene - central to the plot - but distasteful nonetheless. The language and and subject matter are intrinsically adult in nature. That being said, this is a good, if somewhat depressing movie, but worthy of adult viewing.

I love Michael Douglas as an actor and he never does a bad job as far as I've seen, but this movie was weak. I hate movies that tell you about a character's crazy history, but in the movie they've already fell from greatness and all you get is what's left of the man at that point. A movie should show some of the history, its just hard to believe or care about a character when all you're going off of is vague details of the character's history. This movie isn't a rise and fall of a character and his empire movie, this is the very end after the fall, where the viewer is like i know this guy is f'd, so what's the point? that's the main issue with the story/script, could have been a better movie, like most movies these days, those days, what was the point? other than to spend roughly 2 hours distracted from reality and absorbed in a fictional story of someone who had it better than you but now has it rough and can't do much to save himself at this point. Its movies like this that could use another movie to show what happened before the very end but then again maybe not.

Michael Douglas always seems to be at his best when he's playing his dark side, and in SOLITARY MAN, his character is in total self-destruct mode.

The divorced, sixty-year-old, once super-successful car magnate is not only on the verge of bankruptcy, but he's also on shaky ground with his grown daughter (Jenna Fischer) and her family. People do try to throw him a lifeline, but then he does something very stupid, primarily letting his "little head" rule his "big head," and he sinks even deeper into the mire. Indeed, he's like a train wreck, painful to watch but impossible to turn away.

We don't know where his character is going to end up, but Douglas certainly deserves some Oscar attention for this one.

Directed by writer Brian Koppelman and David Levien, this fine film co-stars Susan Sarandon as Douglas' former wife, Mary-Louise Parker as his current girl friend, plus Jesse Eisenberg and Danny DeVito.

From Anchor Bay Entertainment.


© Michael B. Druxman

I had high hopes for this movie based on the cast involved. Sadly, I didn't find the movie matching my expectations.
Michael Douglas plays a disreputable person. If not sexual addiction, his character certainly portrays a moral ambiguity. He cruises for the latest conquest while involved with another woman - whom he clearly agrees is a relationship based on what she can do for his career.
As the movie unfolds, you see the ties he has with his ex-wife and the shaky and co-dependent relationship his daughter has with him. I wondered at one point if there was something about him that we weren't seeing to engender this level of loyalty.
AND.... if that was a salient point in the movie, it lost all credibility when the daughter is confronted by her husband with the statement that her therapist has also told her that her relationship with her father is destructive. Just back to another hum drum movie about the dysfunction of family and addiction.
It is clear the Michael's character is on a downward spiral and concerned about the consequence of aging.
And... in the final ten minutes of the movie you are given a stilted and cheap reason for his spiral out of control.
And that irritated me because it could have been an intense insight into those pivotal moments that becomes the two roads, and what happens when the wrong road is taken. Instead, we're left with a movie that lacks the depth to deliver.