Blu-Ray Review: ‘Solitary Man’ Showcases Michael Douglas at His Best

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CHICAGO – Michael Douglas is so good at playing a particular type of character that it’s easy to forget just how good of an actor he is. While his father seemed capable of playing any role, from van Gogh to Spartacus, Douglas has specialized in playing suave scoundrels with slicked back hair, a snakelike voice, and a sinfully seductive belief in the inherent goodness of greed.

Yet Douglas is the exact opposite as an actor. When he’s given a showcase role, as in Curtis Hansen’s woefully under-appreciated, decade-old “Wonder Boys,” or Brian Koppelman and David Levien’s recent character portrait, “Solitary Man,” Douglas resists every opportunity to chew the scenery. His generosity as a performer enhances the work of his fellow co-stars, while at the same time, making each of his subtle nuances all the more enthralling.

HollywoodChicago.com Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

“Solitary Man” gives Douglas his best role since “Wonder Boys,” where he played a brilliant, burnt-out professor who resembled Alan Alda rather than Gordon Gekko. While that role was a complete departure for Douglas, “Solitary Man” casts him as Ben Kalmen, an aging car magnate who initially seems to fit the typical Douglas persona: charming, cold-blooded and ruthless. Yet Kalmen’s once unbreakable façade starts to crack after he receives alarming news from his doctor, who doesn’t like the look of his EKG. This inspires Kalmen to throw away a successful career and marriage in favor of carousing and scandal, as he attempts to reconnect with his carefree youth.

Michael Douglas and Jesse Eisenberg star in Brian Koppelman and David Levien’s Solitary Man.
Michael Douglas and Jesse Eisenberg star in Brian Koppelman and David Levien’s Solitary Man.
Photo credit: Anchor Bay Entertainment

This character would’ve been detestable from the start in the hands of another leading man, but Douglas makes Kalmen just charismatic and pitiful enough for viewers to empathize with him, despite his monumental flaws. As the directors note in their commentary, “Sympathy is overrated. It’s better to be interesting.” And Kalmen is certainly that. He can’t take his girlfriend’s daughter, Allyson (Imogen Poots), on a college campus tour without getting into a fistfight with one of the students, while giving another a man-to-man pep talk for the sake of his own ego gratification. Ben ends up sleeping with Allyson, an impulsive mistake that further destroys his reputation when she breaks the news to her mom, played by Mary-Louise Parker at her most withering.

For the rest of the picture, Kalmen scrambles to put his life back together, as his friends and family slip further out of his grasp. He’s constantly parented by his adult daughter (Jenna Fischer), who orders him to either get some help or stay out of her life, while his ex-wife (Susan Sarandon) throws stinging observations into their casual banter. When he asks why she didn’t rearrange their furniture, she retorts, “I don’t change things when they’re still working. That’s your game.” Though the dialogue is sharp and witty, it has a habit of blatantly overstating themes until they become redundant, particularly toward the end. Yet the cast is a joy to watch. Poots is utterly beguiling as a young woman gradually discovering her power over men, while Fischer is terrific in her moments of exasperation at a beloved father who never fails to disappoint. Jesse Eisenberg and Olivia Thirlby are adorable in their brief appearances, and the true spark of friendship is apparent in Douglas’s scenes with his longtime collaborator, Danny DeVito. Douglas’s performance is especially poignant in light of his own recent health scare. As Kalmen contemplates his uncertain future, one hopes that Douglas will have many more great performances ahead of him, and that his sparkling comeback in this film won’t end up being a solitary triumph.

Solitary Man was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on Sept. 7, 2010.
Solitary Man was released on Blu-Ray and DVD on Sept. 7, 2010.
Photo credit: Anchor Bay Entertainment

“Solitary Man” is presented in 1080p High Definition (with a 2.35:1 aspect ratio), and includes an 11-minute featurette that mainly focuses on the film’s vibrant cast. Poots is revealed to be a Brit, a fact that makes me ponder just how many super-hot, super-talented young Hollywood actors don’t harbor a foreign accent. Koppelman and Levien admit that they had Douglas at the forefront of their minds while writing the script. In his scattered soundbites, Douglas manages to utter a few memorable insights. He nails the peculiar appeal of his co-star Parker, by praising her “unpredictable pace,” and ability to appear as if she’s always “thinking of something else while talking.”

Yet the true treasure among the extras is the lively audio commentary with Koppelman, Levien and, in an unexpected twist, actor Douglas McGrath, whom the directors dub, “the Dick Cavett of our age.” Though McGrath fleetingly appears in the film as a college dean, he was involved in the production from its conception, offering the filmmakers feedback from the first draft to the final cut (McGrath is himself a filmmaker, having directed “Emma” and co-written the fabulous “Bullets Over Broadway” with Woody Allen). The trio’s rambling observations make for a pleasurable listen, as they discuss how the script was truly a collaborative effort, how the subtle buzz of fluorescent bulbs was meant to symbolize Ben’s repressed fears of mortality, and why Johnny Cash’s version of “Solitary Man” was chosen for the opening credit sequence over Neil Diamond’s original recording (Cash’s “fatalistic richness” was ultimately a better fit for the character). Producer Steven Soderbergh personally paid for the film’s reshoot, and encouraged Koppelman and Levien to let scenes play out without cutting away from the characters, allowing audiences to get drawn into Kalmen’s charismatic spell (and Douglas’s mesmerizing performance). Ethan Coen even lent the directors a priceless bit of advice by telling them exactly when a particular scene should end (he proved to be right, of course).

‘Solitary Man’ is released by Anchor Bay Entertainment and stars Michael Douglas, Imogen Poots, Jenna Fischer, Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Jesse Eisenberg, Mary Louise-Parker, Richard Schiff and Olivia Thirlby. It was written by Brian Koppelman and directed by Brian Koppelman and David Levien. It was released on Sept. 7th, 2010. It is rated R.

HollywoodChicago.com staff writer Matt Fagerholm

By MATT FAGERHOLM
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
matt@hollywoodchicago.com

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