Solitary Man (2009)

Crushingly hot days keep pushing me into the movie theater, and the Michael Douglas vehicle Solitary Man seemed like an acceptable choice mainly for its excellent cast. Douglas plays car salesman Ben Kalmen, who does whatever he feels like doing at any given moment and tends to come off as a sleazy asshole. He sleeps with every woman possible, confiding his exploits to his overly obliging daughter Susan (Jenna Fischer) and barely lamenting his mistreatment of his ex-wife Nancy (Susan Sarandon).

Having driven his own successful car company into the ground with fraud scams, he's dating Jordan (Mary Louise-Parker) because of her father's business connections, hoping to re-establish himself. He takes her daughter Allyson (Imogen Poots) to visit his Boston-area alma mater and recommend her to the dean, and they end up sleeping together. This act sends his life even further into a downward spiral as he is forced to come to terms with his age, health, relationships, and responsibilities.


I'm caring less and less about the "old white guy deals with his age and women" genre of movies, and Solitary Man certainly doesn't bring anything new or insightful to the proceedings. It's a story about a fairly despicable man who lives the way he feels like living because he may or may not have a heart problem. His bluntness and real-world pragmatism may seem funny and refreshing at first, but his refusal to acknowledge the effects his words and actions have on those close to him is frustrating. There's nothing wrong with placing an unsympathetic or deeply flawed character at the center of your movie, but at least give him some sort of unique trait or concoct a more interesting story around him. Though peppered with moments of comedy or telling dramatic interactions, for the most part the film is just watching a jerky old guy go around sleeping with women and mistreating everyone he knows.

Not to appear contradictory, but this isn't actually a bad movie. The terrific performances and some well-written scenes partly make up for the blandness of the story itself. I loved the performances from Jenna Fischer, Mary Louise-Parker, and Jesse Eisenberg, and in her few short scenes Susan Sarandon lit up the screen as she always does. I'm not especially into Michael Douglas (I guess I haven't seen him in too many films though), but I think he did an excellent job in the thankless role of Ben. He manages to be charming and funny despite his assholic tendencies, and I could sort of understand his effect on younger women. Oddly enough I thought Danny DeVito stood out as Ben's estranged college buddy Jimmy. He was so down-to-earth and believable in his few scenes and I just really gravitated towards his character.

Solitary Man: a sub-par script with a stellar cast. It's quite lucky.

3/5