Solitary Man

Posted In: City Island

Maggie Dicastro says...

Douglas has been getting better and better as an actor but in this one he should have been awarded an Oscar for his brilliant portrayal of a basically dishonest, arrogant, womanizer big shot who shot himself down by means of cheating (not just on his wife) and then going downhill fast.He lives in a dreamworld where he still feels that woman are on to him and that he has brilliant advice for young people.He is a sleazy human being with no regards to his family or friends.Yet, somehow Douglas makes you care just a bit for him.Maybe "care" is not the word but "sadness" of a life thrown away.The ending is brilliant but not for people who like things tidied up.

Posted on February 3, 2011

Zulema Delgato says...

"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.Hiscareer 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.

Posted on February 5, 2011

Ethel Studmire says...

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.

Posted on February 6, 2011

Azalee Pankiw says...

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.

Posted on February 7, 2011

Gricelda Witkop says...

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 fa

Posted on February 7, 2011

Arla Hinchliffe says...

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.

Posted on February 8, 2011

Dot Rosol says...

"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



Michael Douglas Film Collection (10pc)



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White Palace

Posted on February 9, 2011

Lora Cabrero says...

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.

Posted on February 12, 2011

Ilona Falasco says...

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.

Posted on February 13, 2011

Freddie Kehr says...

Michael Douglas does a terrific job making a very unlikeable character compelling, and even sympathetic, in this well produced character study.Douglas plays a heart patient who is in extreme denial of his condition.He was so shocked and scared by the revelation that he had aged to the point of having health issues, he refuses to live like a senior citizen.Getting into fights with men young enough to be his grandchildren, and of course bedding as many young ladies as possible have become regular activities.It destroyed his marriage, his career, and nearly his relationship with his adult daughter.



This isn't a feel good movie.There are no easy resolutions in "Solitary Man," just the agonizing sight of a man slowly self-destructing.There are a bunch of good performances in the supporting cast.Danny DeVito is actually a bit underused as an old friend of Douglas' character.Susan Sarandon is the ex-wife.Jesse Eisenberg, the hot young star of "The Social Network," is a college student who idolizes the Douglas character.Jenna Fischer of "The Office" turns in solid work as Douglas' daughter.



This is a sometimes funny, but mostly just sad movie.Not in a tear-jerker kind of way.Not in a way that goes for an easy emotional reaction.Its a slow build as we learn more and more about what makes this guy tick, and why he is so solitary in life.It's a low-key movie, and I'm not surprised it wasn't marketed very well because its difficult to say who the target demographic is.Those are sometimes the best movies, and this one is highly recommended.

Posted on February 13, 2011