Maybe there was a scene you cannot stop thinking about. The movie Solitary Man falls into the latter category for me. Douglas plays a womanizer and former car dealership owner who sees many of his bad decisions catch up to him. You may not like or admire the character, but he comes across as a real person, not a caricature, and you most likely will want to see what happens next.
The scenes between Douglas and Danny DeVito are excellent in a way that may only be possible when played by two old friends portraying two old friends. In the DVD extras, Jenna Fischer who you might know from The Office recalls how when she read the script before knowing the cast, she could only think of Michael Douglas in the lead role.
Douglas does such a great job, there is only one other person I could imagine in the role. As he has aged, Douglas reminds me more and more of his father, Kirk Douglas, who I might also imagine here as Ben Kalmen. This is a one man show, appropriate for its title, and a show it is. Now for the bad parts: the film is pretty boring. Sad to say, but even the bright meteoric crash of a Michael Douglas character is not that interesting when it happens at the age of There are lessons to be learned, that's for certain, but not that many.
You don't even see how he manages to convince 30 year olds to have sex with him, you just see them in his bed, the script being too focused solely on his internal struggle. Bottom line: I think no person under 30 could really enjoy this film, even if it is a good movie. It is targeted at aging men and, maybe, some of the women, as a social learning opportunity.
It is one of those descriptions of a situation or a man that you take with you as a life lesson, rather than a story with twists and turns. A movie photograph. Douglas stars as A car magnate whose his personal and professional life hit the skids, because of his unprofessional behavior and his sex escapades. Douglas's character comes across as a confused person.
You don't take the character home, in fact, you get bored of him. Alwin H. Kuchler's Cinematography is average. Editing is snail-pace. In the acting front, Douglas doesn't work.
Also, he looks jerked up throughout. Susan Sarandon is wasted in a apology of a role. Danny Devito shines in a brief appearance. Jenna Fischer is okay. Jesse Eisenberg sleepwalks his part. Mary-Louise Parker is fair. On the whole, this one's a king-sized disappointment! Thumbs Down! Lovable Lout jdesando 8 September Now in A Solitary Man he plays Ben Kelman, car magnate and philanderer, who has hit life low due to illegal business activity and indiscreet romances with women just too young even for his 60 years.
Ben is involved in both business and personal matters that show him still arrogant and willful: his current love, Jordan Mary Louise Parker , has him take her daughter, Allyson Imogen Poots to college orientation, only to have him seduce the child.
As Ben ages, his dirty dealings exact more punishment. Ben remains solitary through most of the film, despicable except to his good friend, Jimmy Danny DeVito , and maybe his ex-wife Nancy Susan Sarandon.
So while this film may be classified as a comedy, it sure has the feel of a tragedy. The good thing: Maybe Douglas will receive an Oscar nomination, which he will not screw up as he didn't for Wall Street. As people will always be stubborn and not change their ways.
The film also is made watchable by having an all star cast. Micheal Douglas shines as Ben Kalmen a 60 year old man who's complex as it's clear he's going thru a midlife crisis. The film begins with Ben receiving some bad health news then it flashes ahead six and one half years.
And it's clear that this has changed Ben's lifestyle and his personal dealings with his job and family. Ben's now divorced from his wife Nancy Susan Sarandon and his relationship with his daughter Susan Jenna Fischer is strained. Ben's only satisfaction is his romancing and dating of Jordan Mary-Louise Parker an elegant and sophisticated single mother who's attractive and sexy daughter Allyson Imogen Poots becomes a conquest of Ben's. That's right when he accompanies Allyson away on a college trip he beds this 18 year old.
Also on the trip Ben parties up with a fellow campus student Jesse Eisenberg. Clearly Ben is trying to live his teenage years all over. Kalmen can only dream of his past success as a high rolling car magnate in which he threw away due to his crooked dealings. As his complex behavior continues his only comfort is found when he reconnects with Jimmy Danny Devito an old school friend who offers Ben a job at his diner. This is a way that Ben can pay off his debts.
Slowly you as the viewer see it was just meant for this man to be complex as you have to pay your debts to life and society when you screw up. And clearly as proved with this film when one is in dire straits vices and rediscovering youth is a pleasure of relief. Still you accept the hard ways and see some people don't want to change their ways only you as the viewer root for redemption for complex characters like Ben Kalmen. Overall this was a complex and touching feel good performance from Michael Douglas.
Hellmant 16 September The direct to video market is a lot bigger business than it used to be though and just about every major film star has appeared in a direct to video release. It no longer has anything to do with the film's quality it's just a matter of whether the studios think they can market the film to a theater going audience and even films with such high profile filmmakers and as many A list celebrities as this end up playing to a mostly home video audience!
Michael Douglas plays Ben Kalmen a once highly successful automobile businessman who was caught using unsavory business tactics and has now fallen greatly down the business ladder. He's also divorced and despised by his son-in-law.
He keeps in contact with his ex Sarandon , daughter Fischer and grandson Jake Siciliano but on uneasy terms due to his questionable behavior and known womanizing ways. He's now seeing a woman Parker due to her father's business connections and still sleeping with as many women as he can.
He's asked to escort his girlfriend's daughter Imogen Poots to a Boston college campus which were his old stomping grounds. Due to his troubles with temptations he gets in more trouble and ends up alienating himself from almost all of his friends and family.
The movie is well directed and an interesting character study but the lead character is just too unlikeable for my taste. He's so despicable that it's almost impossible to root for him but that's what the movie wants you to do. They make him a very charismatic and likable guy in other ways and they do bring in a storyline that somewhat explains why he feels he needs to act the way he does but I still find his actions too hard to forgive.
Douglas does a great job playing the guy and his performance is interesting. The supporting cast is all adequate and the directing and writing as well. The problem is that were left with no one to relate to and root for, as all of the other characters are underdeveloped, and it does feel like the film wants you to like and forgive Kalemen.
Not a bad film but by no means a very good one either. Solitary Man Michael Douglas is a wonder in this film. You could by a cynic and say that the arrogant, energetic, womanizing, aging man here is just Michael Douglas, and that it's not acting at all. But that's unfair, because he pulls it off with such responsive ease, it's a wonder. Not that he's a likable person. In fact, that's one of the things to get used to, having to watch a lecherous old man push and connive his way into a night with one young woman after another.
It's actually the director and writer to blame, here, because this is a tired and abusive theme. As if all these old timers are really so irresistible!? I'm thinking Clint Eastwood, here, too. Sorry, dudes, but these young women have much better meat to hunker down with. I mean, the real Douglas and the real Eastwood have that star power thing that might be true in real life--I can imagine wanting to say I slept with Michael Douglas the rest of my life, maybe.
But Michael Douglas plays a big time car salesman here, not himself, and he's already an aging loser by the time the movie begins, convicted of felonies, estranged with most of his family and previous life. That's the essence of the title, that this once connected man with the world before him was increasingly alone.
And there seemed to be little he could do about it. As aggravating as all this is--you don't ever feel sorry for him--it's a sharply witty screenplay and the editing is fast, the acting first rate.
In fact, it's in many ways a good movie. It's a contrivance, for sure, and pushes too hard, but in the same ways, so did "The Blind Side" with the extraordinary acting of Sandra Bullock. So we have here a worthwhile movie despite all its flaws, some of them pretty obvious. And Danny DeVito is his usual self, well cast hate to say as a deli owner. But there is no escaping a larger point or two.
First of all, Douglas is a predator who seems to get away with it all, which is sort of okay, but his former wife, played in a brief role by Susan Sarandon, has to take on that most horrible or roles--the ever forgiving wife, waiting for her man despite his really extensive selfishness and downright meanness. And then there is the nearly impossible scenario of the daughter of his current girlfriend suddenly losing all resistance to the man. But I say too much. This daughter, by the way, is played with more artistry than her role probably required by an impressive Imogen Poots.
She's worth keeping a watch on. But Michael Douglas is the bread, the butter, and the dessert here. He appears in every scene, and his acting is perfect. And his character does represent a problem for older men and women losing some kind of sexual aura and ability.
And so the man copes, in his own excessive way. Brace yourself for the other stuff, and watch him roll. Credit IMDb Ben Kalman is aging: he has heart problems, his marriage is over, he's lost a fortune after being caught cutting corners in his East Coast car business, and he's sleeping with as many women as possible - the younger the better.
He's chosen his current girlfriend, Jordan, because her father can help him get a new auto dealership; she's asked him to escort her daughter, Allyson, 18, on a visit to a Boston college campus. He behaves badly, and there are consequences to his love life, his finances, and his relationship with his daughter and grandson.
Is there anywhere he can turn? Solitary Man is a very good movie on its own, but due to Michael's incredible, Oscar worthy performance, that makes it just a bit better then the movie. Solitary Man has a great story, and some very good central characters surrounding it as the center pieces.
From the very beginning, we see Douglas will take any chance to make money for himself, even if it means missing his Grandson's birthday party, or even asking his daughter for a loan. He cares about one person and one person only, himself.
That doesn't really change much, throughout the duration of the movie, but he learns an important lesson near the end. Life is precious. Career revival? Maybe not, but it's certainly one of Douglas's finest showcases of acting. Michael Douglas gives a defining performance.
He is Oscar worthy, or at least close to it. Despite his selfish nature, he remains a likable person, with an uncanny sense of charisma.
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View All Photos Movie Info. A series of bad decisions upends car dealer Ben Kalmen's Michael Douglas business, his wandering eye costs him his marriage to Nancy Susan Sarandon , and he has to relocate from a grand home to a tiny flat. But a hastily planned trip to Boston -- he's showing Jordan's teen daughter, Allyson Imogen Poots , one of the city's many colleges -- just might rouse Ben from his losing streak. Comedy, Drama. Brian Koppelman , David Levien.
Brian Koppelman. May 21, limited. Sep 7, Anchor Bay. Michael Douglas Ben. Mary-Louise Parker Jordan. Jenna Fischer Susan. Jesse Eisenberg Cheston. Imogen Poots Allyson. Ben Shenkman Pete Hartofilis. David Costabile Gary Porter. Susan Sarandon Nancy. Danny DeVito Jimmy. Olivia Thirlby Cheston's Girlfriend. Jake Siciliano Scotty. Brian Koppelman Director. David Levien Director. Brian Koppelman Screenwriter. Paul Schiff Producer. Steven Soderbergh Producer.
Heidi Jo Markel Producer. Danny Dimbort Executive Producer. Boaz Davidson Executive Producer. Avi Lerner Executive Producer. Directors Brian Koppelman David Levien. Brian Koppelman. See more at IMDbPro. Trailer Solitary Man. Clip Photos Top cast Edit. Jake Siciliano Scotty as Scotty. James Colby Sgt. John Haverford as Sgt. John Haverford. Arthur J. Nascarella Nascarella as Nascarella as Arthur Nascarella.
Bruce Altman Dr. Steinberg as Dr. Nick H. Toomey Bill Rallye as Bill Rallye. Brian Koppelman David Levien. More like this. Watch options.
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