Yesterday’s movie was Solitary Man, and I’m writing about it because it stayed with me all day.  There are some obvious parallels in my life I suppose, but only superficial ones (or are they?).  Michael Douglas plays Ben Kalmen, a former big shot fallen on very hard times.  He’s 60 years old and still has an eye for the younger ladies.  The fact that he used to sell cars tells you that he has the gift of gab and the fact that he looks like Michael Douglas means he still can talk the occasional 18 or 20 year old into bed, even if it may have disastrous results to his life – and it does.

But this is not some Fatal Attraction melodrama, this is in fact a very low key character study that I found consistently entertaining.  It’s written by Brian Koppelman, who has worked a lot with Soderburgh, writing Ocean’s 13 and The Girlfriend Experience.  It’s co-directed by Koppelman and David Levien – the two previously directed Knockaround Guys.  The cast includes Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Jenna Fischer, Mary-Louise Parker, Jesse Eisenberg and some other familiar faces.  And it has some terrific songs on the soundtrack – kicking off with Johnny Cash’s cover of Neil Diamond’s Solitary Man; pay attention to both the lyrics and Cash’s performance – it’s amazing how well that song works with this film.  But Douglas is unquestionably the star.

Unlike many other actors his age, Douglas has not entered his 60s in denial, he’s not still playing the kinds of roles that made him a huge box office star, bigger even than his father.  (Well, okay, Wall Street 2 is coming out next month, there are exceptions to the rule.)  He’s taken a few chances in some smaller character-based films, starting perhaps with Wonder Boys in 2000.  And these chances pay off artistically, even if not at the box office, because Douglas continues to get better as an actor.  He’s no longer attempting to get by on looks and charm; I see a real attention to tiny details in his portrayal of this character.

Solitary Man scored high at Rotten Tomatoes and it scored pretty high with me as well.

The only downside is that with my gf away, I’ve been trying to only watch movies that I think she won’t want to see.  But I think she’s gonna like this one, so I’ll definitely end up watching it again.

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