Review of Solitary Man

Only the most adamant of Michael Douglas fans need apply. Which is apparently every major film critic in the nation. What a sham. Solitary Man is a very tired story that we've seen countless times before, except here the story relies almost entirely on the strength of Douglas' reputation, with few favors from an inauthentic feeling script, and not a single noticible contribution from the direction. The director doesn't take a single risk in the entire feature, as each scene plods along lifelessly to the next because, well, that is where the script tells the movie to go. Given the same equiptment, an ambitiousless state University film-studies MINOR could have shot this movie. OK, sure, this is a character study. And as we all know, character-studies demand substance over style. Well Im sorry, but in truly good films (like some have claimed this to be) one informs the other, and for this reason, among others, Solitary Man fails in this department too. I understand that our protaganist is not supposed to be a likeable man. But to be effective at all audiences need to recognize him as a human being. Nothing in this film propells us toward that recognition. He remains little more than a character on the pages of a generic screenplay in the hands of an uninspired director. No performance, no matter how strong, can overcome these kinds of obstacles, whether delivered by Douglas or anyone else. Dont be fooled by the lip-service-- this sadly inevitable Oscar contender only masquerades as something important and truthful.