A walking, talking screenplay. There isn’t a moment in Solitary Man that doesn’t feel like a conveniently arranged plot point. None of it feels lived-in or real. Instead, this is a collection of scenes that seem to have been spit out by some sort of screenwriting workshop. Michael Douglas earned accolades for his portrayal of Ben Kalman, a once prosperous car dealer whose unscrupulous behavior – sexual and financial – has left him alone and on the verge of being destitute. Yet I think the appreciation was really more for way the role tweaks Douglas’ own image than for the actual performance. Douglas is going for his usual rakish-devilish combo, but the awfulness of Kalman’s behavior – including sleeping with the teen daughter of his current girlfriend – never fully registers. He smiles, shrugs his shoulders, gets yelled at and the film moves on. When he hits rock bottom, we don’t really feel the desperation – it’s simply an inevitable part of his character arc. From the writing-directing team of Brian Koppelman and David Levien and featuring a big name but flat supporting cast (Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Mary-Lousie Parker, Jenna Fischer and Jesse Eisenberg). They all might as well be carrying a copy of the script under their arm.
