UNLIMITED STREAMING
WITH PRIME VIDEO
TRY 30-DAY TRIAL
Home > Drama >

Solitary Man

Solitary Man (2009)

October. 21,2009
|
6.3
|
R
| Drama Comedy Romance

A car magnate watches his personal and professional life hit the skids because of his business and romantic indiscretions.

...

Watch Trailer

Cast

Similar titles

Reviews

Nayan Gough
2009/10/21

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

More
Erica Derrick
2009/10/22

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

More
Bob
2009/10/23

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

More
Logan
2009/10/24

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

More
Maynard Handley
2009/10/25

Let me say right away that I am not generally a fan of dramas, of the story of someone destroying their life, or recovering it. However I found something about this movie mesmerizing. My guess is that it was the lack of sentimentality I found so appealing. The main character was not a cartoonishly evil villain, but neither did was he villain with a heart of gold. I don't want to say that he was realistic in that he represented the behavior of a large number of men; rather he came across as a very real example of a particular class of men. And likewise for all the other characters --- all portrayed with sympathy, and as real human beings, not archetypes. My one complaint was with the ending. It's not that I dislike the ambiguity: does our hero choose love or sex? It's that, after the richness of everything that has gone before, the understanding of the complex motives that drive people to do foolish things, even as they know they are foolish (and, also, sometimes, to do beautiful things), the choice that is presented is so simple-minded. The implication is that, sure, this guy can, after six years of being a dick, just decide that this phase of his life is over, it's time to go back to being a decent guy, and everyone else around him will just accept the change. It's a jarring piece of garbage sentimentality which ruins the rest of the movie. How could the ending have been handled better? I think at the very least, the musings at the end about why he did what he did could have been augmented with some acknowledgment of the larger picture, something like thoughts on the difference between what we like and what we want, or how hard it is to not simply reach out for what you want, even after plenty of experience has taught you it's not what makes you happy. I'm trying to avoid saying something trite, which implies our hero has learned a deep and valuable lesson from his experiences, while also trying to suggest that he's not a complete fool, that he can look back on his life and connect the dots. But the ending is (of course) only one part of a movie; and I have very little to complain about the rest.

More
billywallace
2009/10/26

I liked everything about Solitary Man except the main point of the story, to wit, men are bad and women are good. Men are stupid. Women are wise. Men are mean. Women are not. Or,perhaps, men are bad except for a few who may be good but not really very attractive.It's too bad such an excellent cast was wasted on this script. Solitary Man reminds me of the Dutch film Antonia's Line. It's another well crafted, well cast, well acted, will shot, well edited film with a silly script. Again we see wonderful women and girls who live in a world where most of the men are stupid, violent and crass. The few men who don't fit that description are rather dull and compliant worshipers of the aforementioned women. Of course the sons of these women are good because unlike the majority of the members of their gender they have been reared in a matriarchy. Solitary Man and Antonia's Line have nothing in common except for their intellectual underpinnings.

More
lewiskendell
2009/10/27

"You can't cheat death, Benny. Nobody can, no matter how many 19-year-olds you talk into your bed."The topic of the mid-life crisis and men losing their identity and sense of self as they get older has been fertile ground for movies in the past, and Solitary Man is another entry into that sub-genre. It's a drama with slight comedic elements. Michael Douglas stars as a once powerful man who lost his wealth and position when he was caught running a scam. He fills that void with ill-advised trysts with young women and depending emotionally on his exasperated daughter. When his last-ditch attempt to regain his past career is derailed because of another poor decision, he has to confront what his life has become, his own self- destructive behavior, and how his choices have affected the people around him. This isn't a ground-breaking story, but it's certainly watchable and occasionally emotionally involving. The real reason to see Solitary Man is the cast. Along with Douglas, the movie stars Mary-Louise Parker, Imogen Poots, Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon, Jesse Eisenberg, and Jenna Fisher. Some of the parts are bigger than others (I really wish Sarandon would have been a larger part of the movie), but fans of any of them will want to see this. For everyone else, Solitary Man is a movie you should watch if it piques your interest. Will you be adding it to the list of your all-time favorites? Probably not. It's definitely worth ninety minutes on a Sunday afternoon, though.

More
tinseltine
2009/10/28

When discussing tried and true actors with great likability, most would include Michael Douglas. I first fell in love with him back in the 80's as Jack T. Colton, Kathleen Turner's romance book hero come to life in Romancing the Stone. Unfortunately, not even Michael Douglas' charm and charisma will have you rooting for him in Solitary Man. Ben Kalmen (Douglas) is an immature, self-destructive, lech. He's supposed to be lovably irrepressible and sagaciously fighting back from professional disgrace. But mostly, you just feel like tuning out and leaving him to his own devices.Do you want Kalmen to have it all together? No. What good would that be in a character study type film. I feel the problem comes in the execution of revealing who this character was, in relation to who he's become. We don't get that until the very last scene and that's just too late. The other difficulty – it's too dialog heavy, not in a clever, fast paced Nancy Meyer's film way, this is more ex-positional, soliloquy.

More