Susan Granger’s review of “Solitary Man” (Millennium Films)
Intelligently written, intensely emotional and elegantly acted, this is the kind of mature film that rarely gets made these days.
Renowned as “New York’s honest car dealer” and featured on the cover of Forbes, Ben Kalmen (Michael Douglas) is deeply disturbed when, after a routine physical, his internist recommends further heart tests. Six-and-a-half years later, he’s 60 and his life has changed completely. Corporate malfeasance his decimated his Manhattan-based automobile business; only payment of a stiff fine has kept him out of prison. Despite his glib denials, his ‘good’ name is permanently tainted by the stench of scandal. Persistent philandering has destroyed his marriage to his still-beautiful college sweetheart, Nancy (Susan Sarandon), and his perpetual unreliability has strained his relationship with his married daughter, Susan (Jenna Fischer), and beloved grandson.
Restless and relentless, grimly gregarious Ben bounces from one inappropriate seduction to another in total denial, never allowing morals or scruples to influence his choice of young women. But when his current girl-friend (Mary-Louise Parker) asks him to accompany her 18 year-old daughter, Allyson (Imogen Poots), to her college interview at his Boston alma mater – where he’s generously endowed a library – he oversteps the line.
Created by Brian Koppelman and David Levien – writers/directors of “Knockaround Guys” and writers of “Rounders,” “Oceans Thirteen” and “The Girlfriend Experience” – it starts out slow and talky but becomes profoundly relevant, displaying sensitivity and acerbic resonance, featuring characters that burst forth in the full bloom of truth. That includes Jesse Eisenberg as a gawky, clueless sophomore with Olivia Thirlby as his wise-beyond-her-years girl-friend, and Danny DeVito as a loyal college chum.
But it’s Michael Douglas who delivers a serious performance that is unsurpassable, uncanny and unforgettable. The older he gets, the more potent he becomes and the more he resembles his father, Kirk Douglas.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Solitary Man” is a cautionary, enigmatic 8. This dramedy is an actor’s showcase if there ever one, representing a beacon of quality in a summer filled with popcorn pictures.
