Solitary Man

As I was watching Solitary Man I tried to scan my memory and recall a film that chronicled a greater downward spiral than that of Ben Kalmen, memorably played by Michael Douglas. There have been a lot of films about men who hit bottom, but I'm not sure they have been complete as this one. In many ways the film is similar to last year's Coen Brothers film, A Serious Man, but whereas that film had a protagonist influenced by outside events, but in Solitary Man the troubles of the main character are all of his own making.

Douglas' character is quite a piece of work. Once a hugely successful car dealer, so rich that he could afford to donate money to his alma mater to construct a library, he ends up crashing on an old friend's sofa. All of his troubles stem, like some character from Philip Roth, from his inability to stop pursuing young women. He also has a habit of speaking so bluntly that even his closest family members begin to shun him.

The events kick off with Douglas escorting his girlfriend's daughter (Imogen Poots) to her college interview, since it is at his alma mater and he knows the Dean. Douglas unleashed in a college full of co-eds is like a fox loose in a chicken yard--his eyes light up, he has a predatory bounce in his step. He befriends a young man (Jesse Eisenberg) and gives him pointers on successfully seducing women, and then makes a mistake so momentous that his entire world crumbles. His long-suffering daughter (Jenna Fischer) finally has enough, especially after he sleeps and then discards the mother of one of Fischer's friends.

Douglas is on screen the entire film, and it's tough to structure a film around such an unrepentant reprobate. The writer, Brian Koppelman, has the savvy to make him so true to his own failings that we can't help but watch. We may not feel sorry for him, but we are fascinated by him. Koppelman co-directs with David Levien, and the film is a nicely-paced ninety minutes, covering the arc of the character. My only quibble is that, at the end, Douglas explains to his ex-wife (Susan Sarandon) when exactly he became what he was, and it seemed a bit too psychologically tidy for me.

The cast is full of familiar faces, including Mary-Louise Parker as Douglas' girlfriend and Danny DeVito as his old friend (DeVito and Douglas go way back to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest days). It's not as wickedly funny and emotionally profound as A Serious Man, but it is above-average and entertaining. Douglas, in throwaway Hollywood junk, can be very bad, but when he's called upon to give vanity-free performances like this one we are reminded how good he can be.