He's A (not quite that real) "Solitary Man"

Get any two cinephiles together and eventually the topic of “what makes a good movie” comes up. Depending upon the person, the answer could be a plethora of things – the right actor (or actress), a certain director, a framing technique. Sometimes the answer is as simple as genre.

For me, it’s all about the writing and the character development. If I don’t care about the characters, I won’t care about the film. It’s that simple. I might care about the story or its resolution, but if I don’t care about the people involved, I’m not wasting my time. I need to feel strongly about the characters.

That feeling doesn’t have to necessarily be positive though. There are just as many memorable characters that I hated with a passion – like “Forrest Gump”. What everyone thought as a loveable, kindhearted buffoon I just found a tedious one-dimensional bore.

I have noticed, though, that there seems to be a growing media movement – characters usually hated have been “softened” somehow, thus creating the anti-hero. It’s all over the programs you see (or at least the ones I watch most often). Some people say it got popular with Tony Soprano and then went to the Walter Whites and Don Drapers of the world. How does that transition into film?

All of this brings me to “Solitary Man”, the newest effort from Michael Douglas. Here he plays a complete cad of a man, the cliché at the end of the bar who still thinks the 20 year olds are checking him out as they laugh at him behind his back. Almost every relationship he has is toxic – from his daughter to his new love to his grandson. But it hasn’t always been like that (and anything more would be a spoiler).

This supporting cast looked awesome on paper. There’s Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon and Jenna Fischer. All of these actors are certainly competent, but ultimately it’s Douglas’ film and his performance that is the core. His performance is solid, but the writing is the downfall of the film.

Did I want to hit him? Yes. But did I eventually feel sorry for him? Yes, and that didn’t work for me. In a television show, I have 13, 22 or 24 episodes or more with a character. It’s like getting to know someone in real life – sometimes they’re fantastic, sometimes annoying and sometimes boring. But to flip flop your opinion in just 2 hours? It’s just not believable.

The best part of the film is the last line and the cut to black. It’s an example of almost perfect writing. It’s a shame that the rest of the film didn’t pack that kind of punch. It will be interesting to contrast this film with “Greenberg”, which I will try to watch soon.